NEW DELHI: In his first visit abroad after becoming the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi will visit the United States from September 8 to 10.
Rahul will hold several interactions in Washington DC and Dallas, including at the University of Texas, according to Sam Pitroda, Chairman of Indian Overseas Congress on Saturday. Gandhi’s visit comes ahead of the US presidential elections due early November.
In a video statement, Pitroda also shared details of Gandhi’s visit. “Since Rahul Gandhi has become the Leader of the Opposition, I as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, with a presence in 32 countries, have been bombarded with requests from Indian diaspora diplomats, academicians, businessmen, leaders, international media and many others for interactions with him,” Pitroda said.
He further said that the Congress leader is coming to the US for a brief visit from September 8 to 10. “He will be in Dallas on September 8 and will be in Washington DC on September 9 and 10. In Dallas, we’ll have interactions with University of Texas students, academicians, and community people. We’ll have a very large community gathering, we’ll meet some technocrats and then we’ll have a dinner with the leaders from the Dallas area,” he added.
The Indian Overseas Congress chief further said that Rahul Gandhi will travel to Washington DC where there is a plan to have similar interactions with a variety of people, including think tanks, the National Press Club and others.
“There are a lot of events planned with a variety of people because we find that people also have a lot of interest in the states we run with a Congress government. We look forward to a very successful visit and look forward to welcoming Rahul Gandhi to the US,” he said.
During his six-day visit to the US last year, Gandhi kicked up a row with his remarks on Prime Minister Modi, the new Parliament building and the alleged attacks on constitutional values and minorities in India. Addressing the diaspora in San Francisco, Gandhi said that there are people in India who think they know more than God and PM Modi is “one such specimen.”
“We have a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced that they know everything. They think they know even more than God. They could sit down with God and have a conversation and explain to him what is going on. And of course, our Prime Minister is one such specimen. I think if you sat Modi ji down next to God, Modi ji would start explaining to God how the universe works and God would get confused about what have I created,” Gandhi had said.