Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Italy to “surprise” his nonagenarian grandmother on Saturday became a butt of jokes as the party was wiped out in Tripura and Nagaland and was struggling to form the government in Meghalaya.
Rahul announced his decision on Thursday to visit his “93-year-old nani” over the Holi weekend.
BJP President Amit Shah took a dig at Rahul. “I got a WhatsApp message saying there is an election in Italy,” he quipped when asked about the Congress president’s visit to meet his grandmother.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh dubbed Rahul a “non-serious leader”. “No leader can leave his party workers in difficult times. He is not a natural leader, but a product of circumstances,” Singh said.
Congress hits back
“Is it a crime for someone to visit his own grandmother? It has become a profession for him to make unnecessary comments,” senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel shot back when asked about Singh’s comments.
The Congress, which had won 10 seats and bagged 35% votes in Tripura in 2013 Assembly elections, failed to open its account in the February 18 elections. In terms of percentage, the Congress could barely win 2% votes.
In Nagaland, the party could not find enough candidates to field in the Assembly elections and central leaders too gave it the cold shoulder.
Rahul Gandhi addressed a token rally in Tripura on the last day of campaign on February 16, while he did not bother to visit Nagaland. (DH)
