Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Saturday slammed four BJP MPs from Karnataka for undermining Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Odisha rail tragedy, saying it was another example of the “absolute intolerance” of the saffron party to any criticism.

Chidambaram also said the BJP MPs’ letter in response to Kharge was “shallow on facts and hollow on arguments”.

Four BJP MPs from Karnataka, including former chief minister Sadananda Gowda, had taken exception to Kharge’s writing to Modi, saying the letter was “high on rhetoric and low on facts”.

“It does not suit a leader of your stature to write letters to the PM based on facts gotten from ‘WhatsApp University’. But perhaps as the vice-chancellor of WhatsApp University, you are forced to regurgitate fake news as facts,” the letter written by Tejaswi Surya, P.C. Mohan, S. Muniswamy and Gowda said.

Reacting to the stance taken by the BJP MPs, Chidambaram said their response was another example of the “absolute intolerance of the BJP to any criticism”.

Asked about the letter by BJP MPs, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said Kharge was not just an elected Congress president but also the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

“In an electoral parliamentary democracy like ours, when he writes to the Prime Minister on an issue as grave and serious as a rail accident, which has resulted in the death of 288 Indians, the reply should come from the PM.”

“The question is that after a tragic accident, where accountability should be fixed? Where the Prime Minister should have addressed the nation, where the Prime Minister needs to take onus?” Shrinate asked.