Rahul Gandhi, Arun Jaitley to share stage at investor meet

BENGALURU: The business community has welcomed the move by Karnataka to bring Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on the same platform as senior ministers in the Modi government at the Invest Karnataka meet scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 3.

“I think it is an excellent idea to invite Rahul Gandhi and Union ministers to the event,“ Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president S Sampathraman told ET. “There is a Congress government in Karnataka and it is their right to invite their party vicepresident. We hope the Congress and the BJP use this opportunity to iron out differences on economic policies and keep politics aside.“

At the recently-held ET Awards ceremony, Sam Balsara of Madison World too expressed a wish to see the Gandhis on the same stage as Union ministers. Entrepreneur Captain Gopinath said politicians sharing a common platform would be neces sary if the country were to progress.“Both the BJP and the Congress are in power, the Centre needs the state and the state needs the Centre to push investments and reform.“

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the event while ministers Nitin Gadkari, Venkaiah Naidu, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Suresh Prabhu, DV Sadananda Gowda and Ananthkumar have been invited as chief guests, along with Gandhi.

No other Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha floor leader Mallikarjuna Kharge and former minister M Veerappa Moily, have been announced as chief guests, prompting some raised eyebrows in the political circles.

The state BJP unit has reservation about Gandhi to be part of the event on the grounds that he is “merely an MP“. “Who is Rahul Gandhi to attend this event?“ party spokesperson Ashwathnarayana said.