Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said he was "not a travel agent" when asked in Lok Sabha why LoP Rahul Gandhi was travelling abroad amid protests in New Delhi against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR of electoral rolls, PTI reported on Wednesday.
The remarks come amid the ruling party's heavy criticism over Gandhi's trip.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Gandhi of going on vacation after claiming that he got tired of “shouting lies” during the protests in the national capital.
The party also shared a video on X purportedly showing the Leader of the Opposition aboard a flight to Vietnam, with a sarcastic caption targeting his overseas trip.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also took a swipe at Gandhi, suggesting he needed a break after participating in the protests.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, however, defended Gandhi’s right to travel abroad, questioning the BJP’s criticism. He cited Gandhi’s engagements with students and intellectuals overseas and questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits during Parliament sessions had not attracted similar scrutiny.
Gandhi has been leading the Opposition’s campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, demanding the poll panel chief’s resignation.
The Congress and other Opposition parties have raised concerns over the revision exercise, while the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected allegations of irregularities.
The controversy over Gandhi’s reported foreign trip has added to the political sparring between the BJP and the Congress amid the ongoing protests in Delhi over the electoral roll revision exercise.