Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said corrupt people in the country were protected by the Congress party, ANI reported. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was “crossing [the] limits of dignity” by criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

“For 10 years, his government [the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance] remained mired in corruption,” Prasad said. “Congress allies kept plundering the country in [the] 2G and coal scams, but they did not take any action against them,” he said. While Narendra Modi’s government is “working with honesty” to bring back black money transferred to other countries, the Congress had done nothing against unaccounted for income and graft during its tenure, Prasad.

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“Corruption flourished under the protection of your government, and his [Gandhi’s] claim that loans of many people were waived is a complete lie and failure,” the BJP leader added. The country supports the prime minister’s fight against corruption, he added.

Prasad’s remarks came a day after Gandhi called the move to discontinue high-value notes “an attack on honest and poor people”. Gandhi, who also met Modi as part of a Congress delegation on Friday, said the party would support the National Democratic Alliance government if it was serious about removing corruption from the country.

Relations between the Congress and the BJP soured after Gandhi on Wednesday said he had exclusive information about the “personal corruption” of the prime minister. The BJP had refuted the claim, calling it an “allegation made out of desperation”. Both parties have accused each other of wanting to avoid a discussion on demonetisation in Parliament. Disruptions in both Houses have led to constant adjournments through the Winter Session, which ended on Friday.