New Delhi [India], August 1 (ANI): BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla sharply criticised Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday, following his endorsement of former US President Donald Trump's statement calling India's economy 'dead.'

'Forget about the world; no one takes Rahul Gandhi seriously in India. Their allies also call him insensible and immature. I would say the statement he has given, Shashi Tharoor and Rajiv Shukla should accept it. When the question about the dead economy was asked to both of them, they laughed at Rahul Gandhi. When the economy was experiencing double-digit inflation and had the lowest forex reserves and exports, it was very strong. Now, with our economy growing rapidly, it is dead. Their economy is dead; the corrupt economy of the Gandhi family is dead,' Poonawalla told ANI.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also refuted the claims made by Rahul Gandhi against the Election Commission's involvement in voter fraud and stated that the opposition was running a 'malicious plan' to discredit constitutional organisations, further stating that the Congress leader was 'threatening' Constitutional organisations.

'This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi is threatening Constitutional organisations... This is a huge conspiracy to weaken democracy... This is a very dangerous behaviour and approach. The opposition is running a malicious plan to discredit constitutional organisations. It is an attack on democracy,' Rijiju told ANI.

Rijiju highlighted the growing divide between the opposition and claimed that even opposition leaders had started internally opposing Rahul Gandhi.

'Even the opposition party leaders have started to oppose Rahul Gandhi internally... People have started saying Rahul is playing a dirty game and wants to destroy the country's image...' he further added.

Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has levelled serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of direct involvement in large-scale voter fraud with the Congress having 'open-and-shut proof' of the alleged theft.

Earlier in the day, talking to reporters on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Congress leader alleged that the motive behind the voter fraud was to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rahul Gandhi said, 'Votes are being stolen. We have open-and-shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in this vote theft. And I'm not saying this lightly, I'm speaking with 100% proof. And when we release it (proof), the entire country will come to know that the Election Commission is enabling vote theft. And who are they doing it for? They're doing it for the BJP.'

Gandhi said that the findings of an investigation by the Congress amount to nothing short of an 'atom bomb,' with implications severe enough to shake the very foundations of the ECI.

'We had suspicion of voter theft, and we got into its granularity. Since the Election Commision was not helpful in the investigation, we did our own. It took six months and the things we found are an 'Atom Bomb' and when this atom bomb explodes you won't see Election Commission in the country,' he added. (ANI)