Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had told him that they want to join his party. He made the comment during his party’s Yuva Kranti Yatra in Delhi.

“They wanted Congress-mukt Bharat [India free of Congress], but even BJP leaders have told me that they want to join Congress,” he said. “Congress is not just an organisation, it is a representation of the country.”

Gandhi made several remarks critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh during his address. “The RSS thinks they are the authority and source of knowledge in this country,” Gandhi said. “They are absolutely wrong. It’s the people of this country who are the source of knowledge.”

The Congress leader repeated his party’s accusations that the BJP-led Centre was interfering in the functioning of central agencies.

“The CBI director was removed at midnight because Mr Modi feared an investigation into the Rafale scam,” Gandhi said. “The entire country knows that Mr Modi stole opportunities from youth to give Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani.”

The Congress has accused the Centre of signing an overpriced deal and helping Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, which had no prior experience in the sector before landing a contract with Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of the fighter jets.

Gandhi accused the Modi-led administration of dividing the country. “All the Modi government has done in the last five years is to divide the country,” Gandhi said. “They caused riots in North East and Tamil Nadu.”

The Congress chief said Modi is not capable of handling the “employment and agricultural crisis in the country”.