NC, SP decry insult to Manmohan Singh; BJP, Sena too frown at Congress’ V-P
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is at the centre of a row over skipping Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s farewell dinner hosted by his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpath on Wednesday night.
While the Congress attempted to defend Rahul’s absence, political parties like the BJP, Shiv Sena and even the UPA’s allies National Conference and Samajwadi Party frowned at him.
Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose party is a partner of the Congress-led UPA Government, said a statement by Rahul’s office or himself should have been put out in advance if he was not planning to attend the farewell dinner. “If you knew he (Rahul) was not attending the dinner and he had explained his absence to the PM earlier, put out the statement before the news breaks,” Omar tweeted. Rahul however, returned to India late on Thursday evening and is expected to meet the media on the day of counting on Friday.
Naresh Agarwal of the SP adopted a much harder approach and alleged that it was an insult to Singh as Rahul “thought of himself as being above the country.”
The BJP also took a similar line. “Where has the Congress’ PM candidate goneIJ Should there be any such mysterious act in this mannerIJ Sonia Gandhi had insulted (former Congress President) Sitaram Kesri. In a similar manner, Rahul Gandhi has insulted Manmohan Singh, who headed their Government for ten years,” BJP leader Tarun Vijay said.
Another BJP leader Abhimanyu Singh said it was known to all how Manmohan Singh was treated in the Congress. “A man who served as PM for ten years deserves a befitting farewell. Rahul Gandhi should have been there,” he said.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut also hit out at Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress vice-president is behaving like a ‘shehzada’ (prince) as he is often called by the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. “It was a farewell for Rahul Gandhi as well (and) not just (for) the Prime Minister,” Raut said when asked about the Congress scion not attending the dinner. In a dig, the Sena spokesperson said that Rahul Gandhi mostly lives abroad and comes to India for holidays.
AAP leader Kumar Ashutosh said that Gandhi’s absence at the farewell dinner proves that “he is not ready to learn” to take “responsibility”.
This is not the first time that Rahul has chosen to “snub” Manmohan Singh. In September last Rahul snubbed the Government by tearing an Ordinance in full public view while the PM was abroad following which Singh offered to resign.
Rahul, who spearheaded the Congress’ election campaign in the just-concluded lok Sabha elections, was conspicuous by his absence at the function, raising eyebrows in political circles. PMO sources maintained that Rahul had met the Prime Minister on Saturday to thank him and told him that he would not be in town on Wednesday when the dinner was hosted.
The Congress however, rubbished the allegations. “The question of insult does not arise. Rahul Gandhi is abroad and he has gone there after thanking the Prime Minister and taking his permission. This has been made clear,” senior Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi said.
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh reminded that Rahul’s office had released a statement that the Congress vice-president had gone and called on the PM before going abroad. Union Minister Rajeev Shukla hit out at the BJP and Shiv Sena for attacking the Congress scion, saying the two parties were in the habit of attacking the Gandhi family and Rahul in particular on a day-to-day basis. Congress leader Ajay Maken said that after three months of “grueling” campaigning, Rahul had gone out of town for two days.