India, Oct. 5 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) upped the ante against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his statements in Colombia, with parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday terming him the "first leader of opposition to speak against the country abroad".

Rijiju invoked Rahul's late grandmother and former PM Indira Gandhi to make his point, saying that when she was the leader of the opposition and was asked about the action against her while on a trip abroad, she had refused to say anything about the country and the government.

"Show me one Leader of Opposition who has ever gone outside India and made statements against the country or the government. Rahul Gandhi is the first," Rijiju told ANI.

The union minister's ...