Congress gloats as BJP’s Rahul-on-Christmas-break theory proven wrong

With his visit to the samadhis of former PMs on Monday, Rahul Gandhi shut all speculations about Bharat Jodo being paused to accommodate his New years’ vacation abroad

| Updated: 26 December, 2022 4:57 pm IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress continued to spar over the possibility of Rahul Gandhi leaving the country for a trip during the New Year’s week. When Gandhi paused his Bharat Jodo Yatra till January 9 it was speculated that he was doing so to go for a trip. BJP attacked the leader saying that he didn’t stop his yatra during winter session.

However, Gandhi proved the BJP wrong with a visit to samadhis of former PMs including that of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chaudhary Charan Singh a day after Christmas, giving the spokesperson of the party an opportunity to attack the BJP.

The Congress took an indirect swipe at Union Minister Pralhad Joshi who had said that the former party chief would suspend his Bharat Jodo Yatra for a trip abroad.

Addressing the media, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “A BJP leader had said Rahul Gandhi would travel abroad for a Christmas break. But when the minister and BJP leader, wrapped up in a blanket in the severe cold, was busy breaking the country, Mr Gandhi was paying tributes at the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Chaudhary Charan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”

While Shrinate did not name the BJP leader, she was referring to the remarks of Joshi, who had predicted that the Yatra would be paused as Gandhi was taking a Christmas break to travel abroad.

“And Jairam Ramesh had earlier demanded an apology from the BJP. So should these mafiveers not apologise as they are habitual of apologising,” she asked.

The party also released a video of nine lies for trying to defame Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Shrinate said, “BJP is caught every time trying to defame the Congress. Now their lies to defame Bharat Jodo Yatra have also been exposed. On the other hand this yatra is uniting the country.”

Meanwhile Jairam Ramesh slammed the BJP for using Covid scare to try and stall Bharat Jodo Yatra. “The letter was not written on the recommendations of ICMR or any expert committee but on the basis of the letters written by two BJP MPs of Rajasthan,” the Congress Communication in-charge said.

He further said that such attempts will be made as UP, Haryana, Punjab and Kashmir are yet to be covered by the group. “No one can stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Rahul Gandhi to complete this yatra,” he said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra started on September 7 from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari. The yatra passed through nine states and reached Delhi on December 24.

The yatra has taken a halt for a few days for maintenance of the containers and will once again start on January 3. The yatra will begin from Delhi and enter Uttar Pradesh, before entering Haryana again and then Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.