The BJP on Thursday accused the Nehru-Gandhi family of being the “most corrupt family” in the world, launching an attack on the principal Opposition after a campaign to smear the Aam Aadmi Party with the corruption taint.

The arrest of Delhi minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain in an alleged hawala transaction case has come as an opportunity for the BJP to open the corruption front against the relatively rookie party as well as the Congress.

With internal reports indicating that the AAP was gaining traction in several states, aided by its Delhi model of freebies, the BJP has started taking early measures to label Arvind Kejriwal’s party as another corrupt outfit like the Congress, BJP insiders said.

On Thursday, although the Nehru-Gandhi family was the main target, the BJP did not ease the pressure on the AAP.

While party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia slammed the Gandhi family over the Enforcement Directorate summons in the National Herald case, Union minister Smriti Irani was deployed on the sidelines to attack Delhi chief minister Kejriwal.

“Not only in India, the Gandhi family is the most corrupt family in the world. This is because three members of the family are accused of corruption charges and are currently on bail,” BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, justifying the ED summons to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

“By not answering a single pointed question, Kejriwal ji in a way has admitted to the hawala nexus of his minister,” Irani told reporters, responding to Kejriwal’s media address on Thursday, accusing the BJP of now plotting to arrest his deputy Manish Sisodia in another “fake case”.

“The Congress has been established as a corrupt dynastic party and now the AAP’s claim of having zero tolerance against corruption needs to be exposed,” one BJP leader said, acknowledging that the AAP was emerging as a challenger in many states after its big victory in Punjab.

The AAP had taken birth as a new political outfit with the current leaders of the party spearheading an anti-corruption agitation against the Congress during the UPA II government. The BJP managers now want to use the same corruption stick to beat the AAP with to nip its rise outside Delhi.

“Arvind Kejriwal had said corruption was tantamount to desh ki gaddari (treason against the country). Does he know he is patronising those who have deceived the treasury & people?” Irani asked at a media address on Wednesday. “Should he (Kejriwal) be declared as ‘desh ke gaddar'?” she added.

Kejriwal has come out in strong support of his minister arrested in the alleged hawala transaction case and the BJP is trying to accuse him of committing “treason against the country”.

The BJP addressed the media for two days in a row, Tuesday and Wednesday, from its headquarters, making a determined effort to target the AAP. The AAP has been making a determined effort to emerge as an alternative to the Congress and challenger to the BJP in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and other BJP-ruled states and this has irked the saffron party.

The AAP has kept off taking a firm secular stand on communal riots in Delhi and it resorts to organising pro-Hindu and “nationalist” events.

The AAP on Thursday announced that Kejriwal would participate in a “Tiranga Yatra” in poll-bound Gujarat’s Mehsana.