Rahul Gandhi on 'secret foreign holiday', claims BJP; Congress hits back

The foreign trip of Rahul Gandhi has yet again raised a war of words between the BJP and the Congress after the ruling party raised questions over his “frequent disappearances”.

In a post on X, BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya attacked Gandhi, saying as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), he needs to answer the people of the country.

"Rahul Gandhi was on a secret foreign holiday just last week. Now, he has flown abroad again to yet another undisclosed location," Malviya said.

"Why these frequent disappearances? What is so compelling that keeps him away from the country so often? As the Leader of the Opposition, he owes the people of India answers," he added.

The Congress was quick to retort, accusing the Prime Minister’s Office of playing dirty tricks. The party said Gandhi had gone to London to attend the graduation ceremony of his niece.

"The PMO is, as usual, up to its dirty tricks. It knows nothing else. Shri Rahul Gandhi has gone to London to attend the graduation ceremony of his niece and will be back shortly," Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said in a post on X.

According to reports, Gandhi's niece Miraya Vadra, who is the daughter of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra, is graduating from the UK.

The BJP has often raised questions over Gandhi’s foreign trips. In March this year, party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Rae Bareli MP was making frequent visits to Vietnam and such undisclosed trips are unbecoming of the Leader of the Opposition.

"New Year's in Vietnam, Holi too in Vietnam? I have been told he has given 22 days' time in Vietnam. He hasn't even spent that much time in his own constituency, Rae Bareli,” Prasad had said.

The Congress, meanwhile, clarified that Gandhi went to Vietnam to study its economic model.