Rahul Gandhi Cites Visit to Atal Bihari Vajpayee at AIIMS in Mumbai Speech, Says 'Went to Meet Ailing Former PM as This is Congress Culture'

Mumbai, June 12: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday cited his visit to ailing former prime minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) on Monday, while he was addressing party workers in Mumbai. "We had contested against Vajpayee ji but when he is ill now I went to meet him on priority because I am a soldier of Congress. Vajpayee Ji had worked for our country and we respect him as he was the Prime Minister. This is our culture," Gandhi said.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for "not respecting its senior leaders", Gandhi said, "LK Advani has been the guru of PM Modi, but I have seen in events that PM Modi does not even respect his guru. Today I feel very sad for Advani ji. The Congress party has given him more respect than Modi Ji."

He also claimed that a senior political leader who has been fighting against the Congress for 50 years now felt that the party could defeat the BJP and RSS ideology. "A senior politician told me that he has been fighting against the Congress for the past 50 years & it is after 50 years that he realised that if there is any party which can keep the country safe it is the Congress. Only Congress can defeat the ideology of BJP and RSS," Gandhi said.

The Congress President also said that the BJP was losing grip and will also lose the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "They (BJP) have recently lost in Karnataka have barely saved themselves in Gujarat, they will be wiped out in Rajasthan, MP and Chhatisgarh and Congress and other opposition parties will defeat them in the General Elections of 2019," Gandhi said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 12, 2018 05:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).