Lucknow, Apr 5 (IANS): Calling the Muslim League a "virus", Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the Congress has been infected by it and if the party wins the elections, the virus would spread all over the country.

"The Muslim League is a virus, and spares no one infected by it. Today, the country's main opposition party Congress is infected with this virus. What will happen if the party wins the elections? The virus would spread across the country," Adityanath tweeted.

"In the 1857 freedom struggle, the whole country joined Mangal Pandey to fight against the British. But the Muslim League virus arrived and divided the country. Now the green flags are fluttering again as the Congress has been infected by the Muslim League virus. Beware!"

The BJP leader's controversial comments came a day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. Gandhi was greeted with green flags of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front's (UDF), on his arrival in Wayanad on Thursday.

The IUML fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections too as a partner of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and won the Mallapuram and Ponnani seats in Kerala.