Rahul Was On Study Tour In Vietnam: Rawat On Lop’S Absence During Mourning

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's visit to Vietnam during the national mourning for former Prime Minister late Manmohan Singh was on Monday termed a 'study tour' by former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat.

“I believe he has gone to Vietnam to study its economy and social system that are currently a model. He has gone there to study their economic model...” Rawat told IANS.

This was among the first explanations from the Congress to justify Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi's foreign trip just before New Year's eve.

Harish Rawat said he hasn't had a word with Rahul Gandhi so far but expressed confidence that the LoP would never indulge in impropriety.

“If after a difficult and busy election year he, as an individual, takes some time out for himself then why is the BJP trying to look for a political twist in it,” asked Rawat, calling the BJP a trollers' brigade.

Reports of Rahul Gandhi's foreign tour during the seven-day mourning period following the demise of India's 14th Prime Minister set off a round of attacks and counter-attacks between the BJP and the Congress.

The BJP accused Gandhi of 'prioritising' his New Year holiday over India's 'architect of economic reforms' late Dr. Manmohan Singh, as many reports claimed that the Congress MP has flown abroad to ring in the New Year.

The controversy came close on the heels of bitter political mudslinging between the two parties, first over the Congress' allegation of humiliation of Dr. Singh over his cremation at the city's Nigambodh Ghat and then the BJP's counter-attack over senior Congress leaders as well as the Gandhis giving the ash immersion rituals a miss.

The BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya took to social media to blast the Congress MP for flying abroad at a time when the nation was mourning.

"While the country is mourning Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's demise, Rahul Gandhi has flown to Vietnam to ring in the New Year," Malviya claimed in his post.

Congress leader Manickam Tagore took to X and retorted,“If Mr. Gandhi travels privately, why does it bother you? Get well in the New Year.”

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