Amidst the deepening crisis in the party with two leaders –Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel — quitting the party, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi left for London on Thursday. His second foreign visit in less than a month's time, Rahul will attend the ‘Ideas for India’ conference starting from Friday at Cambridge University.
There he will address ‘India at 75: The Challenges and Way Ahead for a Resilient-Modern India’ and interact with Indians present there. This program of Rahul will be held on 23 May.
Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said that Rahul will also talk to the NRIs about the present and future of the country. Rahul is accompanied by senior party leaders Salman Khurshid and Priyank Khadge to take part in the event.
However Rahul faced severe criticism as again at a time when the Congress is grappling with an exodus of party leaders from key states he left for abroad about which Hardik Patel took a jibe in his resignation letter to the party. Without taking names, Hardik stated in his letter senior that Congress leaders were busy checking messages on their mobile phones, and some leaders were “enjoying abroad” when the party and the country needed them.