Rahul asks partymen to fight together against RSS
New Delhi, April 29: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday defended senior party leader Salman Khurshid over his "blood on party's hands" remarks, saying he would allow "divergent views to flourish in the party", but asked partymen to fight together in the ideological battle against the RSS.
He also attacked the BJP, saying that in the party, it is only the views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah that hold sway.
Addressing the ‘Jan Aakrosh' rally at Ramlila Maidan here, Gandhi said: "This party belongs to the country and there is no dearth of leadership in our party. Every person has some strength. But sometimes there are divergent opinions in our party.
"I want to give example...Salman Khurshidji is sitting here..and a few days back he voiced a different opinion.
"...And I am ready to accept from this stage that there will be divergent views in our party. And I will allow different streams of thoughts to flourish in my party."
Asserting he will protect Khurshid, Gandhi said: "But I want to say one thing..when the party is fighting a battle..when the party is fighting against the RSS, then we will have to fight together..have to fight with love."
"BJP president (Amit Shah) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can never say such a thing from their stage because in their party only one view will find place, only one thought will be accepted. And that is Amit Shah and Modi's thought.
"In their party, neither (Union Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley is respected, nor (party veteran L.K.) Advaniji is respected.. even their chief ministers will not be respected," he said, adding that the only ones to be respected are Modi and Amit Shah.
"This is the difference between us and them," said Gandhi.
Khurshid on Monday stepped into a controversy by saying that there is "blood on the hands of the Congress", a remark later dubbed as "unfounded" by his party.
Also noting that many other countries have attacked some country or other sometime and India was the only one which has never attacked any country in 3,000 years, he said: "The reason for this is that in the DNA of our country there is respect for divergent views and thought.
"And this is Congress party. We want to give strength to this stream of thought. The entire country is standing with us, be it youth or the old. We have to change ourselves a bit and we will do it."
Gandhi also said both old and the young leaders will be loved and respected in the Congress and find a place.
"The worker may be 80 or 90 years of age, a leader may also be of the similar age. He may also be an 18-year-old worker, you will all be loved. And if anyone doesn't show respect to you, I will take action against him," he added.
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IndiGo fight disruptions: Opposition demands statement from government
New Delhi (PTI): The opposition on Monday demanded in the Lok Sabha that the government should inform the country about what it is doing in the wake of the IndiGo flight disruptions and the inconvenience being faced by the people at various airports across the country.
Speaker Om Birla said Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu will give a detailed statement on the matter in the Lower House on Monday or Tuesday.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha soon after the Question Hour, Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said, "Through you (the Speaker), we request the government that the Civil Aviation Ministry should tell the country through this House that why people in all airports across the country since many days (are facing trouble), there are dialysis patients, people who have weddings in their house, people who want to reach their elderly, there is chaos at the airports."
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"We were told that even people wearing Hawai chappals will travel in airplanes but prices have soared to Rs 20,000, coffee (at airports) is for Rs 250 and planes are delayed. Therefore, the government should tell us what is it doing," he said.
The opposition has been attacking the government over the IndiGo flight disruptions and blaming it for the "unprecedented crisis".
The Congress had earlier claimed that the ongoing IndiGo chaos was not an accident but the direct outcome of the BJP government's "relentless push to manufacture a duopoly in the sector".
Over 250 IndiGo flights were cancelled from Delhi and Bengaluru airports on Monday as the disruptions in the crisis-hit airline's flight operations entered the seventh day, sources said.
