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Political slugfest between Congress and BJP over Rahul’s Kathmandu visit  

The Congress on May 3 asserted that attending the marriage ceremony of a friend was still not a crime, as its former president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Kathmandu turned into a bitter war of words.

As a video of Gandhi in a Kathmandu nightclub became viral on social media platforms and was shared by Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s Information Technology (IT) cell, Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala hit back.

“Rahul Gandhi went to a friendly country, Nepal, to participate in a marriage function of a friend who also happens to be a journalist. Last I checked, it has still not become a crime in this country to attend a marriage. Maybe after today, the BJP may decide it is illegal to attend a marriage and a crime to have friends,” Surjewala said.

Comparing it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 surprise visit to Lahore when Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister, he stated, “Rahul Gandhi ji, like Modi ji, didn’t go uninvited to cut Nawaz Sharif’s cake” uninvited like PM Modi,”

Malviya tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi was at a nightclub when Mumbai was under siege. He is at a nightclub at a time when his party is exploding. He is consistent. Interestingly, soon after the Congress refused to outsource their presidency, hit jobs have begun on their Prime Ministerial candidate”.

Other BJP leaders also attacked Gandhi. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called him “full-time tourist and a part-time politician, who is filled with hypocrisy”. Bihar Minister and senior BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain took a swipe at Gandhi, saying “he [Rahul Gandhi] is more involved in parties, rather than running his own party.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. File

Defending his leader, Lok Sabha member and Congress leader Manickam Tagore said that everyone attended private functions. “So what is wrong if Rahul Gandhi attends it?”

According to a report in Kathmandu Post, Gandhi arrived in the city on Monday afternoon to attend the wedding of Sumnima Udas, daughter of Bhim Udas, former Nepali ambassador to Myanmar.