Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday questioned the government over US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s proposed meeting with Indian government officials in Mumbai next week, alleging confusion within the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) over the arrangements. He also suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should clarify the matter.
Gandhi’s remarks followed a statement by US envoy Sergio Gor a day earlier, in which he said Rubio would meet Indian government officials in Mumbai and that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was expected to attend the meeting.
Reacting to Gor’s statement, Gandhi wrote on X, “Mr Rubio has summoned his employee to Mumbai. Modi ji, your officials in the External Affairs Ministry are confused about what's going on. You might want to explain. Unless, of course, you want me to”.
Neither the government nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had issued an immediate response to Gandhi’s remarks.
Rubio is scheduled to visit India next week, with plans to visit a Reliance facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat, before meeting officials of the Ministry of External Affairs in Mumbai.
The Congress had also criticised the government on Thursday over the proposed meeting, questioning the MEA’s silence on Jaishankar’s expected interaction with Rubio in Mumbai.
Congress general secretary for communications Jairam Ramesh said Gor had provided further details about Rubio’s upcoming visit and that the announcement of a meeting with Indian government officials was not unexpected. However, he questioned the envoy’s statement that Jaishankar was expected to attend.
“What is quite extraordinary is his statement that ‘we expect the Minister Dr Jaishankar to be joining us there along with other individuals',” Ramesh said in a post on X.
Ramesh also questioned why the announcement of meetings involving India’s external affairs minister on Indian soil was being made by someone other than the MEA’s official spokesperson.
Gor had shared details of Rubio’s proposed engagements during an interactive session at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He said the US secretary of state would meet Indian government officials in Mumbai, with Jaishankar and other officials travelling from Delhi to attend.