BJP leaders who shared the video — an undated one showing Gandhi accompanied by a friend at a dimly lit nightclub, with loud music in the background — took a dig at the Congress leader for attending a party in Nepal at a time when his party was going through a severe internal crisis.
The developments happened after the Congress, on its Twitter handle, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for traveling abroad at a time when it claimed there was a crisis in the country. “There is a crisis in the country, but Saheb (Prime Minister Modi) is relishing abroad,” the party had said. The PM is on a three-nation European tour to boost ties in the areas of clean energy and trade.
Among the first to tweet Gandhi’s purported video, BJP’s IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya, posted on Twitter: “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.”
Many BJP leaders also took pot-shots at Gandhi, questioning his leadership. Union law minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted how he, as the permanent boss of a party, could abdicate his responsibility to indulge in parties and leisure. WCD minister Smriti Irani, who was incidentally in Wayanad, Gandhi’s constituency on Tuesday, claimed the Congress party had always been apathetic to people’s needs, and held the MP responsible for Wayanad’s dismal performance as an aspirational district.
Other politicians also reacted sharply. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra lashed out at “BJP trolls” for their double standards and said what the Gandhi scion did in his personal life was nobody’s business.
As per a report published by the Kathmandu Post on Monday, the former Congress president was in Nepal to attend the wedding of his friend Sumnima Udas, whose father had served as Nepal’s Ambassador to Myanmar. The wedding was planned for Tuesday and a reception would be held on Thursday.
The Congress said Gandhi had done nothing wrong. Rahul Gandhi has gone to Nepal on an invitation to attend a private marriage function of a friend, “unlike PM Modi who went to Pakistan uninvited” to attend the birthday cake-cutting of the then PM Nawaz Sharif, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.