No change in Rahul's itinerary during UK, Germany visits: Congress
New Delhi, Aug 17 : The Congress clarified on Friday that there has been no change in the engagements of Congress President Rahul Gandhi during his scheduled visits to Germany and the UK and accused the BJP of trying to undermine the visit because "it is getting popular".
Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said there is "absolutely no change in Gandhi's itinerary".
"He will go as per schedule of the itinerary decided by the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC). He will engage and interact with various sections of people as per the schedule. There is no change in the plans," she said.
"BJP is trying to undermine the entire visit because they know how popular it is getting and how people wish to hear Rahul Gandhi and want to reach out to him," she added.
Chaturvedi said if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was attempting to get any invite withdrawn, it exposes "its pettiness and its shortsightedness" at a time when leaders from across the political spectrum were appreciating the democratic norms followed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Congress sources said IOC Chairman Sam Pitroda had conveyed that there had been no change in the proposed visit of Gandhi to the UK Parliament.
A media report said on Friday that Indian-origin millionaire Dr Rami Ranger, co-chairman of the Conservative Friends of India, and Tory peer Baroness Verma have rescinded an invitation to Rahul Gandhi during his trip to London saying the event had been cancelled.
It also said Labour MP Keith Vaz has sponsored a room elsewhere in the Parliament and Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) has taken over running the event.
Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Germany and London next week to meet businessmen, politicians, academics and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
Sam Pitroda said in a tweet on Thursday that Gandhi will be visiting Germany on August 22 and 23 and London on August 24 and 25.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
