Taking potshots at Narendra Modi in the wake of BJP leader LK Advani expressing displeasure over not being fielded as an election candidate from Bhopal, Congress today said that the party's Prime Ministerial nominee was the "epicentre" of all troubles within the saffron outfit.
"See the mentality of the epicentre who has created the trouble. When this epicentre came to Gujarat, it had some former chief ministers, none of them are now in Gujarat BJP.
"Modi's mentality is that personality is taller than the party. The person who built BJP has been put in such a situation in order to establish his (Modi's) supremacy," party spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters here.
"The country does not condone such acts of the son slapping the father and snatching the key of the house from his hand," he added.
Referring to Sushma Swaraj, Gohil said, "She has to take to twitter.com to say something when her voice is not heard by the party."
Meanwhile, dismissing suggestions that Congress was not being able to find a formidable candidate to take on Modi, he said that the party would put up strong contenders against the BJP leader at both Varanasi and Vadodara.
At the same time, Gohil shot down speculation over some names which have been doing the rounds as Congress probables for Varanasi.
"It is the Central Election Committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi which decides which candidate will contest from a particular constituency. Some individuals may express their desire to contest, but the decision has to be taken by CEC," he said.
The remarks came a day after Union Minister Anand Sharma and Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh both said they were ready to stand against Modi if the party wanted them to.
As for Vadodara, Congress candidate Narendra Rawat has already won the party's 'Primary' for the seat and is likely to be the candidate against Modi.
Asked whether he was ready to fight from Vadodara if the party wanted him to do so, former Gujarat CLP leader Gohil replied in the affirmative, saying that as a disciplined soldier of the party, he would definitely do what the party asks him to.
Singhvi claimed that no clean chit had been given to Modi in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. "It is a work in progress," he said, adding that Congress had already said that it did not agree with NCP chief Sharad Pawar's view that accusations against Modi should not be raked up as the court had exonerated him.
On Congress's chances at the hustings, he said, "A Congress-led UPA will succeed in getting support of the people. There is no reason to be pessimistic."
To the question who between Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was the bigger adversary for Congress, Singhvi said, "Both are our political adversaries. We take our opponents seriously and they will be contested fiercely."