india

Updated: Oct 31, 2019 16:44 IST

The BJP on Thursday raised questions on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “frequent” foreign trips and sought to know if the “secrecy” surrounding these meant he was involved in some hidden operation.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said Rahul had been abroad on 16 occasions in the last 5 years, which was more than the number of trips he made to Amethi--his former Lok Sabha constituency-- in the same period

“Of the 16 visits (abroad), the destination was not known on nine occasions. Why was it not revealed? Was he involved in some secret operation?” GVL asked.

BJP’s attack comes a day after the Congress spokesperson claimed Rahul was out of the country for one of his “meditational visits” and will return soon.

GVL also suggested that Rahul’s preference for foreign shores was one of the reasons he lost Amethi seat in April-May general elections.

“This is also one of the reasons why the people of Amethi rejected him,” he said commenting on Gandhi, who lost from the family stronghold and was elected to Lok Sabha from Kerala’s Wayanad instead.

Rao said the Lok Sabha secretariat had no information on Gandhi’s foreign visits despite a directive by the Parliamentary affairs minister making it mandatory for all MPs to declare their foreign trips in advance, including those made for private purposes.

Taking a dig at Rahul, Rao said the entire world came to India for meditation but Gandhi went abroad in search of peace.

Rao added that foreign tours were an expensive affair and wanted to know, who footed the bill for Gandhi’s air tickets, stay in five-star hotels and other expenses.