Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today visited the flood victims in Banaskantha, Gujarat, a week after one of the worst floods hit the state in almost a decade. Before visiting Gujarat, Gandhi had a brief stopover at yet another flood affected area in Jalore, Rajasthan where he toured the area by road.
He then steered his helicopter towards Dhanera in Banaskantha, Gujarat. Interestingly, Dhanera MLA, Joitabhai Patel is one of the 44 Congress MLA vacationing in Bengaluru’s Eagleton resort. All 4 Congress MLAs from Banaskantha are holed up in the resort, where karaoke parties are reportedly being organised.
Ironically, Rahul Gandhi then tried to assure people of Gujarat that Congress party is with Gujaratis.
Gujarat: Aap sabhi ke beech aana chahta tha aur kehna chahta tha ki Congress party aapke saath hai- Congress VP Rahul Gandhi in Banaskantha pic.twitter.com/NYvnqKRuHf
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 4, 2017
Evidently, people are angry at their elected representatives abandoning them in their hour of need. Angry people protested his visit by showing black flags, to which, Rahul Gandhi, being as calm as cucumber, said he is not bothered by the act of people who are actually scared.
If only he had carried theplas cooked by the specially flown Gujarati chef for 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs for these people, they might not be so scared or unhappy maybe.
However, things got a bit ugly when stones were reportedly pelted at Rahul Gandhi’s car in Banaskantha, which Congress quickly blamed on the BJP:
BJP goons attack Cong VP Rahulji’s car in Lal Chowk, Dhanera, Banaskanta, Gujarat. Disgusting & disgraceful: RS Surjewala, Cong on Twitter pic.twitter.com/LebtcJgZRq
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 4, 2017
Responding to allegation that the BJP was behind the attacks, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Congress VP refused to drive around in a bullet proof car offered by the state government, as per protocol, and chose to travel in a normal car:
Like every visiting leader Rahul Gandhi was offered a bullet-proof car by state govt but he chose to travel by normal vehicle: Gujarat Dy CM pic.twitter.com/sd3EE1HoJy
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 4, 2017
Political temperature rose further as in a series of tweets, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, referring to Congress VP as “perpetual tourist”, hit it out on Congress and accused the party of having anti-people and anti-Gujarat mindset:
It is interesting to note here that 3 Rajya Sabha seats are up for reelection in Gujarat and one of the seats is of Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. BJP has fielded BJP President Amit Shah and Smriti Irani. BJP has also fielded Balwantsinh Rajput, a former Congress MLA who defected and joined the BJP last week. With this, politics has taken center-stage in the state, even though assembly elections are a few months away.
