Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday took a jibe at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for not attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech at Red Fort and said ‘he must have got direction from the 10, Janpath’ – government residence of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
“He can't do anything without clearance from the (Gandhi) family. The family must have said that as long as we are not in government we should not celebrate India and Independence Day,” he told news agency ANI, adding that Kharge may show up for the Italian Independence Day.
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A political slugfest erupted after Kharge missed the Red Fort event complaining of having some eye-related problems as well as over the possibility of not being able to attend the event on time. "The security is so tight that they don't let anyone else leave before the PM leaves...I thought that I will not be able to reach here on time...I thought it better to not go there to security situation and lack of time," he said earlier.
{{/usCountry}}A political slugfest erupted after Kharge missed the Red Fort event complaining of having some eye-related problems as well as over the possibility of not being able to attend the event on time. "The security is so tight that they don't let anyone else leave before the PM leaves...I thought that I will not be able to reach here on time...I thought it better to not go there to security situation and lack of time," he said earlier.
{{/usCountry}}However, the BJP noted that the Congress chief ‘recovered immediately’ from the illness which barred him to attend the PM's address. He was present at the Independence Day celebration at the Congress headquarters where he gave a speech.
"Sources were saying Kharge ji was unwell hence couldn’t come for #IndependenceDay program but I’m glad he recovered immediately and started giving speech at AICC HQ where he was able to do flag hoisting," BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.