A local court Wednesday issued summons to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allegedly making a controversial statement against his BJP counterpart Amit Shah.

Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Ajay Kumar Gudia, who had reserved the order after hearing a petition in this regard on November 28, directed that summons be issued against Gandhi.

In his petition, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Naveen Jha alleged that Gandhi had made the statement against Shah on March 18 during the national convention of the Congress.

The BJYM is the youth wing of the BJP.

The petitioner submitted that the statement had hurt his sentiment and tarnished the image of the party.

Earlier this year, the same SDJM's court had rejected the petition of Jha, an executive member of Jharkhand BJYM.

He appealed before the court of Judicial Commissioner Navneet Kumar against the rejection order. Kumar quashed the SDJM's order and directed the lower court to hear the petition again.