'It can't be about land stir either': Congress amid controversy over remarks on Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Several Opposition leaders - including within the Congress - expressed concern and embarrassment on Saturday after Rahul Gandhi claimed that BJP leader Arun Jaitley had threatened him over his support for the anti-farm law agitation, which began a year after the former finance minister's death.

While the BJP quickly seized on the contradiction, some Congress leaders, including Rajni Patil, said Gandhi may have been referring instead to the 2015 protests against amendments to the land acquisition law. However, this too left them scrambling for explanations - Gandhi had notably left the country for nearly two months during the peak of that agitation.

In early 2015, as the Opposition launched a coordinated pushback against the land Bill - stalling Parliament, leading marches to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and staging protests at Jantar Mantar and Bhatta Parsaul - Rahul Gandhi was missing in action. He skipped most of the Budget Session and returned only after 57 days, during which Sonia Gandhi, the late Ahmed Patel and others led the charge.

His absence had then triggered widespread speculation and political barbs, forcing the Congress to organise a hasty public rally on his return.

"I have no words to explain why Rahul ji needlessly dragged Arun Jaitley ji's name," said a senior Opposition leader. "It can't be about the 2015 land law agitation - Rahul ji had chosen to be abroad for nearly two months then".