Is Rahul 'Chinese propagandist', asks BJP; wants details of his meeting with China's leaders during Kailash visit

Accusing Rahul Gandhi of acting as a "Chinese propagandist", the BJP Friday asked him to give complete details of his meeting with China's ministers and officials during his Kailash Mansarovar visit and questioned why he had not kept the Indian government informed.

The BJP's attack on Gandhi came after the Congress president said at a meeting in Odisha that Chinese ministers told him during the trip in August-September last year that job creation was not a problem in their country.

"When I had gone to Kailash, I met a couple of their ministers and they said job creation in China is not a problem at all," Gandhi said.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said his party had raised questions about Gandhi's meeting with Chinese officials when he had embarked on the holy trip but the Congress had rejected the claims and said he was on a personal visit.

"The Kailash Mansarovar yatra was an excuse. He had gone to meet these ministers. Rahul Gandhi is not an ordinary citizen. Why did he not inform the Ministry of External Affairs? Why was the Indian embassy not kept in loop? We want to know the details of his talks," Patra told reporters.

The Congress president keeps talking about China, he said, asking, "Why is he acting as a Chinese propagandist? He keeps raving about China".

The BJP leader said Gandhi had also met the Chinese envoy in India during the Doklam standoff involving the armies of two countries, adding that the Congress had first denied it.

At the presser, Patra also attacked the Congress after its senior spokesperson Anand Sharma warned officials of various agencies to be ready for accountability for working at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to target his political opponents, comments that came after CBI raids at former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's residence Friday.

The BJP leader said it amounted to the Congress issuing "threats" to officials and showed the mentality of the opposition party.

"The Congress believes that its leaders are entitled to corruption and they should not be investigated," he said, adding that such "threats" are against the principals of the Constitution.

Taking a dig at the opposition party's claim of political vendetta following the raids, he said the Congress first questions why the government was not taking action on corruption charges against its leaders and then alleges vendetta when probe agencies act.

To a question about Gandhi's attack on the RSS, Patra said the Congress leader suffers from "RSS-phobia" and wondered if the Hindutva organisation was the reason why he appointed his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as his party's general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East.

Patra added that her entry into active politics was a "non-event".