Patna: The BJP on Monday accused the Congress of "reserving" democracy for promoting one family in the country and maintained that something similar was being done by the RJD in Bihar.

The party's response came a day after senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge stated that a tea-seller like Narendra Modi could become Prime Minister only because the Congress had "preserved" democracy.

"You are absolutely wrong Mr Kharge. It happened because people of this country decided to make a poor man PM of the country. You didn't preserve democracy. You, rather, reserved it as a right of only one family," BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said here on Monday.

He then trained his guns on the Nehru-Gandhi family, saying: "Democracy is no pickle of the Gandhi family that by applying the masala (spices) of emergency can preserve it. Democracy has been strengthened because people of the country have struggled for it."

Patra targeted the Congress on the economy, and took a veiled jab at the Cambridge and Oxford-trained Manmohan Singh, calling him a so-called economist. "When a so-called economist was the Prime Minister in the Congress government, the World Bank had put India in the list of the fragile five and under the stewardship of Narendra Modi, IMF has termed India as fabulous few and brightest star of the world economy," he said.

Patra also attacked RJD chief Lalu Prasad, saying he had made a mess of Bihar during his family rule.

"He is neither concerned about the country nor about Bihar. His only concern is to find political parking space in Bihar politics," the BJP spokesman said.

Mocking the Opposition parties, Patra said: "While the Opposition parties are trying to stop Modi from coming to power, the people of the country are stopping him from going out of power. Finally, people's will would prevail."

On his maiden visit to the state, Patra referred to Chanakya several times during his interaction and said that his teachings were still very relevant for the country.