Bharat Jodo Yatra's success has rattled BJP, says Congress

Amid a row over Congress tweeting an image of Khaki shorts on fire and the BJP accusing it of spreading hatred, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Tuesday (September 13) said the saffron party is blowing the issue out of proportion as it is rattled by the success of “Bharat Jodo Yatra” led by Rahul Gandhi.

Nath claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi changes his clothes three times a day and has a suit allegedly worth ₹10 lakh, days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suggested that Rahul Gandhi wore a T-shirt costing more than ₹41,000 during the yatra.

“Why does the BJP associate itself with knickers? If a person wears shorts, does he belong to the BJP? Does everyone in the BJP wear shorts?” he asked while speaking to reporters in Indore.

The Congress veteran alleged the BJP wanted to divert the attention of the public from the successful “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and is thus blowing the “Khaki shorts” issue out of proportion.

Also Read: Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra evokes mixed response, stirs a row in Kerala leg

A controversy erupted after Congress on Monday (September 12) tweeted an image of Khaki shorts on fire on Twitter with a caption “to free the country from shackles of hate and undo the damage done by BJP-RSS”.

The BJP and the RSS have accused the Congress of spreading “hatred and contempt” and called it (the posting of the image) a “blatant instigation for violence”.

“The BJP sometimes talks about the shoes or T-shirt Rahul Gandhi wears during the yatra, but the ruling party is not talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suit allegedly worth ₹10 lakh,” he said and claimed that PM Modi changes clothes thrice a day.

Queried on his absence in the Legislative Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session despite him being the senior leader of the opposition party, the Chhindwara MLA said he could not attend as he is visiting Indore and Agar Malwa.

Also Read: Second day of Kerala leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra sees huge turnout

Nath said he was supposed to travel to Agar Malwa on Monday but changed his programme due to the death of Dwarka peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. On Monday, he went to Shankaracharya’s ashram in the Narsinghpur district and rescheduled the Indore visit to Tuesday.

“We have other members of Congress in the Assembly (today). I am not needed there,” he said. Nath alleged the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh was borrowing indiscriminately “for kickbacks it wants to get by awarding contracts of big projects”.

“The government is not interested in resolving the issues of farmers and the unemployed youth”, he alleged.

Meanwhile, when asked about Nath’s absence in the House, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister and senior BJP leader Narottam Mishra alleged Nath and Congress were never interested in raising issues related to people.

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“Even on the first day of the monsoon session, Kamal Nath was not present in the House,” he told reporters in Bhopal.

(With inputs from agencies)