Priyanka Gandhi ‘lost faith in Rahul Gandhi’: BJP alleges rift in Congress over Raihan Vadra exhibition row

The BJP has alleged a political rift between Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, claiming that Priyanka has lost faith in her brother's leadership.

Targeting the Congress over the controversy surrounding the removal of photographs depicting recent protests in Delhi by artist and Priyanka's son Raihan Vadra's exhibition at Bikaner House, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari claimed that Priyanka was deliberately creating a controversy around her son's exhibition to facilitate his political entry.

"Priyanka Vadra's entire attempt was to soft launch her son by manufacturing a controversy. She has lost political faith in Rahul Gandhi!" Bhandari alleged in a post on X.

He also questioned Rahul Gandhi's silence on the controversy, claiming that the Leader of the Opposition had not publicly supported his nephew. "Rahul Gandhi who from Vietnam is tweeting on every issue under the son, has till now not openly done a single tweet in favor of Rehan Vadra," Bhandari wrote.

"It's Priyanka vs Rahul in Congress!" he added.

Bhandari has been alleging that the controversy surrounding Raihan's exhibition was part of an attempt by Priyanka to introduce her son into politics. He referred to an e-mail purportedly sent by Raihan to the Bikaner House administration on June 10, claiming that the original proposal contained no political photographs.

According to Bhandari, the proposal described an exhibition featuring nature, wildlife, artwork and sculptures. He claimed that Bikaner House accepted the proposal on June 30, indicating that Raihan was aware of the venue's guidelines restricting political content.

Bhandari further alleged that photographs depicting political protests were later added to the exhibition under pressure from Raihan's family.

He said the Bikaner House administration sought the removal of these photographs on October 21. The BJP spokesperson argued that the sequence of events contradicted the Congress's account of the controversy.

Earlier, in a video message on X, Bhandari accused Priyanka of using the controversy to promote her son.

Another BJP spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, also targeted the Congress leadership over the controversy.

Bhatia also alleged that Priyanka was attempting to launch Raihan. "Priyanka mummy mission is now underway to launch Raihan Vadra after Sonia Gandhi failed to launch Rahul Gandhi, a defective product who led the Congress to defeat in 99 elections."

Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor strongly criticised the Bikaner House administration's decision, describing it as an act of censorship. In a post on X, Tharoor noted that photographs documenting protests should not automatically be treated as political statements.

He said the images depicted events already familiar to the public through news reports and social media.

"While Bikaner House is free to have a policy against political stands, photographs of a protest demonstration are a depiction of an event and not political in themselves; they would almost certainly have passed muster had the matter been brought to a court as an issue of freedom of expression," Tharoor said.

He also criticised the implications of the decision for India's international image.

"And worst of all, this censorship has driven one more nail into the coffin of India's global reputation as a freedom-loving democracy," he said.