What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday put an end to speculations around his white T-shirt that has now become the talk of the town by declaring that he was not scared of the chilling cold in the national capital.
Responding to a question during a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi said, “Why is there so much disturbance because of the T-shirt? I do not wear a sweater because I am not scared of winter. I am thinking of wearing a sweater once I start feeling cold.”
I will write how to combat winter chills after he completes the 3,570 km long Bharat Jodo Yatra, he quipped.
Gandhi has been seen wearing the same white T-shirt during his 150 days of Bharat Jodo Yatra which commenced from Kanyakumari. Even in Delhi which is witnessing hill-like cold this year, he continues to appear at public events in the same clothes.
Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Delhi on December 24 and is currently on halt for maintenance of 60 containers that house the Bharat Yatris and resume the march on January 3.
Referring to constant attacks on him by BJP leaders, Rahul said, “I want them (BJP) to attack us aggressively, this will help Congress party understand its ideology. I consider them (BJP) as my guru, they are showing me the way and training me on what is not to be done.”
The Congress leader also stressed that the opposition has to coordinate effectively on an alternate vision to the BJP.
“I think if the opposition stands effectively as what I am hearing from the ground and what I am feeling from the ground it will become very difficult for the BJP to win the elections. But the opposition has to coordinate properly and the opposition has to go to the people with an alternative vision,” he said.
He also said that BJP and Congress cannot be one. “If this would have happened then Narendra Modi would never talk of Congress Mukt Bharat. The entire country knows that ideologically Congress and BJP are completely different and this is an old fight. There is also space for Akhileshji. But it is our perspective that we will win the battle,” he asserted.
“The fight between BJP and Congress is no more a tactical political fight. The opposition needs a central ideological framework that only Congress can provide but our role is also to make sure that opposition parties feel comfortable,” he said.
The Congress leader further said that his padyatra has so far been successful for the party.
“When I started this (yatra), I just took it as an ordinary yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Slowly, we understood that this yatra has a voice and feelings too,” he said.
The Congress leader also said that every opposition leader is with the Congress in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, “but I understand there are some political compulsions”.
“The doors of Bharat Jodo Yatra are open for everyone, we are not going to stop anyone from joining us. Akhilesh ji, Mayawati ji and others want ‘mohabbat ka Hindustan’ and there is some relation of ideology between us,” Rahul Gandhi said when asked about the Samajwadi Party chief and BSP supremo joining the yatra in Uttar Pradesh.
Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Uttar Pradesh on January 3.
