NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi slammed the UP government for excluding iconic Taj Mahal from a tourism booklet a day before visiting his parliamentary constituency Amethi.
“If you don’t show a lamp to the sun…its shine does not diminish…for such rule, well-known writer Bhartendu has said…weird city, bad king,” Rahul tweeted in Hindi in an indirect reference to chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The two leaders had sparred in August over child deaths in a Gorakhpur hospital as the chief minister hails from the area.
Congress sources said Rahul is miffed over the state government’s recent gaffe related to his three-day visit to Amethi starting October 4. The Gandhi family scion believes the controversy was a ploy to stop him from visiting the area just days ahead of a trip by BJP chief Amit Shah and senior party leaders on October 10.
Sources close to Rahul said he may respond to the local administration’s attempt to block his visit during a speech after an interaction with the locals scheduled on October 4 in village Kathaura in district Jagdishpur. In the remaining two day, he will interact with several local delegations.
According to AICC functionaries, the visit is important as it comes after seven months when Rahul addressed an election rally in the area in February this year. BJP leader Smriti Irani, now information and broadcasting and textiles minister, had contested against Rahul in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She is expected to be present in Amethi on October 10 when Shah will attack the Gandhis.