Gorakhpur: The Bharatiya Janta Party on Thursday coined a new ‘gotra' for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, mocking his Italian lineage.

Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey called it ‘gotra Itlus’.

This is the latest remark in the row over Gandhi's gotra.

A priest at Pushkar lake in Rajasthan recently said Rahul gave out his gotra during a ritual as Dattatreya, who are Kashmiri Brahmins.

Some BJP leaders challenged the claim, reminding that Rahul's paternal grandfather was a Parsi, not a Hindu with a 'gotra'.

Pandey told reporters that Rahul has no gotra, going by the traditional male lineage. And if we take his gotra going by his mother, it should be gotra Itlus, he said.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje had said on Tuesday that the 'gotra' mentioned by Gandhi while offering prayers at Pushkar was that of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and not of the Congress president.

Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have come and offered prayers at the ghat and it is recorded with us, Pushkar priest Dinanath Kaul had said.

The priest claimed he possessed old records showing this.

Pandey also said the BJP supported the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, which would have been built through any means.

“The case is in court and we hope that the decision will be in our favour. However, the temple will be constructed by any means,” the BJP leader said, referring to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute the Supreme Court is hearing. He added that the BJP had never contested elections on the Ram temple issue and the party's agenda was always development.

With agency inputs