A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted a tweet linking five former Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, with Gautam Adani, the former Congress veteran hit back at Gandhi today. Azad said that he does not have any links with any businesses man, but the Congress family has links with many businessmen.
Ghulam Nabi Azad then alleged that during his visits to foreign countries, Rahul Gandhi meets undesirable businessmen. While asked about the tweet by Rahul Gandhi in an interview with Asianet, Azad said, “It is shameful that Rahul Gandhi is saying this. Their entire family has, all along, had an association with businessmen. That includes him (Rahul Gandhi). I have a great respect for the family. I can give you ten examples of where he would go and meet, even outside the country, to meet people who are undesirable businessmen.”
It is notable that Rahul Gandhi on 8th April posted a graphic mixing the Adani with five former Congress leaders, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Anil Antony, insinuating that the former Congress leaders may have invested in the Adani Group. Except for Azad, the rest four are in BJP. In the graphic, featuring the logo of the Adani group, each letter in the word Adani is used to form the name of the five former Congress leaders.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has already said that he will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for the tweet.
BJP used the comments made by Azad to target Rahul Gandhi and asked him to explain who are these businessmen that he meets during his visits to other countries. “Rahul Gandhi must explain who are these businessmen he meets and for what purpose?”, the party posted from its official Twitter handle quoting the statement made by Ghulam Nabi Azad.
…their entire family (the Gandhis) have all along had association with businessmen, including him (Rahul Gandhi). He (Rahul) goes abroad and meets undesirable businessmen…
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 9, 2023
– Ghulam Nabi Azad
Rahul Gandhi must explain who are these businessmen he meets and for what purpose? pic.twitter.com/2juk0GlvhW
Talking about other matters, Ghulam Nabi Azad said that he does not agree that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra benefited the Congress party. “Lots of people say that Rahul Gandhi’s clout has increased after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I was also under that impression like many in the country. But during the past 10 days, I realised he has zero clout,” Azad said.
“In 1978, Mrs Gandhi was disqualified and jailed. Within a few hours, more than one lakh people went to jail. Ten lakh people were waiting outside the jail because there was no space in the jail. Ten thousand people accompanied me and took a protest march to Parliament. I was in Tihar Jail for about a month.
Now, Rahul Gandhi, immediately after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, is disqualified and jailed, not even a mosquito has cried or come onto the road. He had to go to Surat court accompanied by working committee members from Delhi, MPs from Delhi and MLAs from Gujarat. Not a single youth or farmer from Gujarat joined,” he added.
Azad said that the party is going down the drain because of some half a dozen people. “. I don’t feel very happy to see the Congress go down the drain because of the folly of some half-a-dozen people who are not interested in the future of the party; they are only interested in their own projection in the media and public,” he said.
Talking about exodus of young Congress leaders to others parties like BJP, he said that younger generation is ten times more frustrated with the leadership than the elders like him. “Most of those who left were part of Rahul Gandhi’s team. They left because of the lack of leadership and direction from Rahul Gandhi,” Azad said.
He also said that BJP has become the only national party in India because of the Congress leadership. “They have sat like ducks and not doing anything. Rather, they have been doing things that will help the BJP. It is the present leadership of the Congress that s promoting the BJP,” he said.
