Gujarat in-charge for the Congress party and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki put into odd situation during their visit to Surat where during a meeting with textile traders they were welcomed by Modi…Modi… chants on Wednesday.
Both the senior Congress leaders are on tour of South Gujarat in connection with the upcoming Assembly polls to strengthen their party’s organisation. Since both leaders are travelling to Surat, they thought to meet agitating textile traders, who are on indefinite strike against recently implemented Goods & Services Tax (GST).
local Congress leaders fixed their meeting with the agitating textile traders. As they reached to a textile market to meet them in their vehicle, some of the traders whom the Congress party claimed to be BJP workers surrounded and started chanting 'Modi… Modi' forcing the Congress leaders to leave the venue.
"Media may see it that way but no traders opposed Congress. The traders were only raising slogans opposing GST," Solanki told local reporters in an attempt to downplay the incident. local Congress leaders on their part claimed that it was BJP members who had merged with the crowd and may have raised the slogans.
Interestingly, slogans against finance minister Arun Jaitley, against GST and local Parliamentarian C R Patil were also raised at the same venue. Congress had earlier condemned lathicharge on traders in the city on Monday.