Subramanian Swamy fires unsparing pun on Rahul Gandhi's Italy trip; hints farmers let down

Senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday joined his other party colleagues who have taken a dig at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for flying off to Italy. Even though Congress has defended their leader's decision saying he has gone to meet an ailing relative and his grandmother and is not on a holiday, the BJP has been relentlessly attacking the Wayanad MP.

'Rahul Baba was asked to join dharna but...'

Taking to Twitter, Subramanian Swamy said that farmers are saying that "Rahul Baba" was asked to join the protests against the Centre's farm laws but "Rahul Baba ko NaanI Yaad Aagayee." The Hindi idiom is also used when someone panics or gets into trouble, and in this case is also a pun. 

Asked about Rahul Gandhi's absence from the party's foundation day function at the AICC headquarters, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala came out in his leader's defence, saying he is currently not the party chief and has performed all the duties entrusted to him by the organisation.

The former party chief left for Italy on Sunday afternoon, a day ahead of the party's 136th foundation day, prompting many BJP leaders to take a swipe at him and the Congress.

READ | Congress gives 2 'versions' of Rahul Gandhi's Italy visit as he skips party foundation day

READ | Shivraj Chouhan fires '9 2 11' jibe as Rahul Gandhi flies off ahead of Cong foundation day

BJP leaders take swipe at Rahul Gandhi

"Rahul Gandhi's holiday in India has ended and he has gone back to Italy," Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh had said, according to PTI. In another tweet in Hindi, he said, "Priyanka Gandhi Ji does not love her grandmother as much as Rahul Gandhi Ji does."

In a tweet in Hindi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "The Congress is celebrating its 136th Foundation Day here and Rahul has run away." The BJP leader used the popular Hindi idiom 'Nau Do Gyarah (9 2 11)' in his tweet. On his tweet, a user commented that "Rahul Gandhi has nothing to do with the party", to which Shivraj replied, "Why not? He must have gone to celebrate the party." 

Surjewala said the BJP should not have any objection to Rahul Gandhi visiting an ailing relative. "Rahul Gandhi has gone out on a short personal visit to meet up with an ailing relative, who is seriously sick. He has not gone out on a holiday. He also meets up with his maternal grandmother this time of the year, every year. I don't think the BJP should have objections to him visiting an ailing relative," he told reporters.

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READ | Rahul Gandhi tweets out support to farmers from Italy while Centre schedules talks

(With PTI inputs)