The BJP launched an attack on the Congress for the third time in a row on Wednesday in an apparent effort to enmesh the rival once again in allegations of corruption at a time the Opposition party is battling infighting in the aftermath of electoral setbacks.

On Wednesday, the BJP fielded former Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore to try to drag Gandhi family members into the multi-crore AugustaWestland helicopter deal scam.

On Tuesday, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had addressed the media over the same issue and demanded a clarification from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over the names of the Congress’s top leaders allegedly surfacing in the scam.

“What does the Congress have to say when its leaders are being named in kickback cases in defence deals again?” Prasad asked on Tuesday after reports emerged that a prime accused in the AugustaWestland case had named Congress leaders such as Kamal Nath’s son Bakul Nath, Salman Khurshid and Ahmed Patel. “The nation is awake and listening,” Prasad had said.

Picking up from where the law minister had left off, Rathore said on Wednesday: “Yesterday, senior minister Ravi Shankarji had demanded a clarification from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on the names of their party leaders. But so far there is silence.”

The sustained attack comes at a time when the Congress is in the throes of severe infighting triggered by the party’s poor performance in the Bihar Assembly elections and a batch of bypolls. Several leaders of partner RJD have also accused the Congress, which won just 19 of the 70 seats it contested, of pulling down the Grand Alliance in Bihar when it was certain to wrest power.

The setbacks have triggered discontent to again rear its head in the Congress with some senior leaders seeking to indirectly target the Gandhis.

The BJP appears to have lunged at the opportunity to pin its principal national rival down, deploying a corruption-themed assault that had yielded rich dividends before the 2014 elections.

Referring to the BJP’s agenda of a “Congress-mukt Bharat”, ruling party leaders explained the importance of the target.

“The Congress is the only national party that can pose a challenge to us at the Centre. Regional parties are effective in states but not nationally,” a BJP leader said, asked about the sustained attacks on the Congress.

More than the Congress, the Gandhi family has been the target of the BJP. BJP leaders believe the Congress will disintegrate if they succeed in discrediting the Gandhis.

On Monday, Prasad questioned the Gandhis over the demand to restore Article 370 and the Congress’s purported attempts to join the Kashmir alliance of parties fighting for it.

“Do they (Congress) want to restore Article 370? Do they stand by Farooq Abdullah’s statement of taking help from China?” Prasad asked.

Union home minister Amit Shah too latched onto the issue on Tuesday and accused the Congress and the “Gupkar gang” — an uncharitable reference to the alliance of the Kashmir-based parties — of taking Jammu and Kashmir back to the era of “terror and turmoil”.

On Wednesday, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed the media on Article 370, picking out the Congress as the main target.

BJP leaders said all state leaders of the party had been asked to address media conferences and hold protests against the Augusta corruption case and the demand to restore Article 370 to create the perception that the Congress was both “corrupt” and “anti-national”.