Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said unlike the Congress leader, the opposition party did not believe in publicising visits of its leaders to Dalit households.
"I do not look at (Bhimrao) Ambedkar in a political perspective. When I decided to have dinner at a Dalit household in Mhow (birthplace of the Dalit icon) during my visit to Indore for the party National Council, I put the condition that there would be no media presence, no photographers," Gadkari said.
The BJP president was speaking at a party programme held on the eve of Ambedkar's birth anniversary.
"We believe in achieving Ambedkar's dream of development for all not through speeches or by engaging in political drama but by accepting it as life's conviction," he added.
Interestingly, Gadkari had accused Rahul in Chennai yesterday of not having any experience in building infrastructure in reply to a question on the Amethi MP's known opposition to interlinking of rivers. While Gadkari did not name Rahul, former BJP MP and spokesperson Ramnath Kovind directly attacked him in his address preceding that of the BJP chief.
"When Rahul Gandhi goes to have dinner at a Dalit's house he goes with the media," Kovind said, adding, "He does not even have enough courage and conviction to say he had gone to a Dalit house to have dinner. He says he is visiting poor families." PTI
