Giriraj Singh takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi over sabbatical

SURAT: Union Minister Giriraj Singh today slammed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi saying it is "unfortunate" that he went missing for so many days.

"Since he has come back, I pray to god that he (Rahul Gandhi) connects with the people once again. But it is unfortunate that a leader of his stature went missing for so many days. It is equally surprising that neither his party (Congress) nor people of this country had any clue where he was," Singh said.

Rahul Gandhi had returned home yesterday from his 56-day sabbatical.

"In the entire history of Indian politics, I have never come across a leader who not only went out of the country but also went missing without a trace. No one knew where he has been. Only Congress people can throw some light on it. Now he will talk about farmers (in the rally). This is not appropriate," the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said here.

The minister who hails from Bihar also took a dig at the merger of the erstwhile Janata Parivar parties and said that fear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brought them together.

"They call it Janata Parivar, but the 'Janata' is not with them. There is only a 'Parivar' of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Deve Gowda and Lalu Prasad Yadav. They came together due to fear of Narendra Modi. This alliance will eventually break up after their vested interests collide with each other," Singh said.

Speaking about the rally in Kashmir valley where separatist leader Masarat Alam raised pro-Pakistan slogans and flags, Singh said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already informed Jammu and Kashmir government to take stern action since India will not tolerate such anti-national activities.