The BJP charged that the maximum number of communal riots have taken place under Congress rule and it has no right to allege that they are responsible for the recent incidents.

The Opposition asked why the Centre had not taken appropriate and prompt action in the recent Muzaffarnagar riots."Samajwadi Party, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, is a Congress ally at the Centre. It failed to control the riots.

Why did the Congress-led UPA government not take action against it? Rahul Gandhi cannot evade responsibility for it," he said.

"Thousands of riots have taken place during Congress rule over the decades. Most of them happened during the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao," he added.

Another prominent Muslim BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the party will take this issue to the Election Commission and demand that an FIR be lodged against Rahul Gandhi for violating the Model Code of Conduct as election process is on in five states.

"Rahul Gandhi has made baseless allegations against BJP and this attempt to divide votes on communal grounds is a clear cut violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

"We will ask the EC to lodge an FIR against him for his communal, provocative speeches," Naqvi said.

The party alleged that Congress is a "traditional and professional exploiter" of votes and is spreading "communal poison" for this purpose during the on-going polls.

"Yuvraj (Rahul) is only taking this tradition forward," Naqvi said. He alleged that Gandhi is trying to spread dissensions and conflict on religious lines in the country through his speeches. He said Gandhi's speech was an attempt at creating communal sensationalism in the name of secular politics.