New Delhi/Kolkata, April 11 (IANS) A reference to octogenarian Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's age by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and the former's "Amul baby" retort, saw Congress leaders Monday come to the defence of the Gandhi scion as the opposition BJP used it to target the party.

 
 A day after Achuthanandan called Rahul Gandhi an "Amul baby", Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee termed it an "uncivilised" comment.
 
 "I don't want to comment on any uncivilised comment by anybody. That is my stated position. I have never done it, I will not do it in the future. It speaks of individual tastes and culture of the person concerned," Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata.
 
 Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said the comment was unexpected from the Kerala chief minister.
 
 "The Kerala chief minister is a good person and where he got such a term as 'Amul baby' from I fail to understand. Such language is not expected of him," Singh told reporters.
 
 He jestfully added, "May god give him 100 years age, and his fights with CPI-M's (Pinarayi) Vijayan continue."
 
 Using the age factor as a weapon, the Bharatiya Janata Party said while the Congress was pointing fingers at the Kerala chief minister's age, its leaders are campaigning for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi who is also in his eighties.
 
 "I can't see why Rahul Gandhi got so upset about it or what the Congress is upset about. I thought Sonia Gandhi went to campaign for Karuanidhi who will probably by the end of next term be 92 years old," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in New Delhi.
 
 Defending the junior Gandhi, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Rahul Gandhi was a youth leader with no parallel.
 
 "There is no other youth leader in any other party comparable to Rahul Gandhi," he said.
 
 Achuthanandan made his "Amul baby" remark Sunday in reaction to Gandhi's comment on his age at an election rally. The Kerala chief minister is 87 years old, and Gandhi pointed out to voters that if the Left Democratic Front returned to power, Kerala would have a 93-year-old chief minister by the time of the next elections.
 
 In retort, Achuthanandan said: "The Amul baby has come here to campaign for some Amul baby candidates of the Congress party."
 
 The Congress-led United Democratic Front is the main opposition in Kerala which will go to polls Wednesday. The results will be declared May 13.