New Delhi, Jun 9 (TOI): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said former president and Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee's visit to RSS headquarters signaled the end of the Grand Old party.

"Congress is finished. A man who spent 50 years in Congress and was President of India visited RSS headquarters. Do you still have hopes from this party?" said Owaisi at an event in Hyderabad.

The firebrand leader roundly criticized Mukherjee for going against his party's secular credentials when he attended an RSS event in Nagpur and addressed Sangh workers on Thursday.

"We would like to tell Pranab Mukherjee, RSS, BJP, Congress, India and Hindu secular brethren that when Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel had written that RSS people were celebrating," he said, alluding to the fact that Nathuram Godse was known to be close to the Sangh Parivar.

Owaisi also took exception to Mukherjee's appreciation of RSS founder K B Hedgewar. The senior Congress leader had referred to Hedgewar as a "great son of Mother India" in his speech at the RSS headquarters.

The Lok Sabha member further said there was a need to think of an alternate to the BJP, other than the Congress, and endorsed a third political front led by regional parties.

Mukherjee's decision to attend the RSS event had triggered a political slugfest with several Congress leaders expressing their disapproval and attempting to dissuade him from going to the event.