The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has issued notice to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi over his nationality issue. In November last year, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had made public some documents, which showed that Mr Gandhi had reportedly claimed British nationality to set up a company in the UK. The Committee has asked Mr. Gandhi to reply whether he once declared himself a British citizen on the legal papers. <br/><br/>Talking to media outside Parliament today, Ethics Committee member, Arjun Ram Meghwal said once the Congress Vice President submits his reply, then the Committee will take a decision on it. He also rejected Congress political accusation in the matter, wondering whether BJP had asked Mr. Gandhi to fill up such information in the document.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has said he will deal with the matter. According to Mr. Swamy's documents, the Congress leader was the director and secretary of the company and he had called himself British on the annual returns of UK-based Backops Limited in 2005 and 2006.<br/><br/>Countering it, Congress had released another document of the same company, in which Mr Gandhi had declared himself Indian. The party also described as a typing error the discrepancy between the document and the British government's records.<br/><br/>Following the controversy, BJP MP Mahesh Giri had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan urging her to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee.<br/><br/>Congress has said the nationality of its Vice President as an Indian can never be questioned. Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters outside Parliament that Mr Gandhi need not to prove his credentials as an Indian. Surjewala refused to comment upon proceedings of Ethics Committee terming them as confidential.<br/><br/>Mr Surjewala allged that attempts are being made by the government to malign the image of Congress party. He said some leaders of the ruling party is raking up the issue just to divert attention from core issues. <br/><br/>The spokesperson said the ruling dispensation should focus on bringing back Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi to the country instead of indulging in cheap politics. Reacting to this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Congress needs to clarify on the matter. He said there is no politics over the issue.