Congress made an all-out attack on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT cell head Amit Malviya on Wednesday after he alleged that former Union Minister Jitendra Singh Alwar tied Rahul Gandhi’s shoe lace during the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra which is currently in its Haryana leg.
Malviya, sharing a 21-second video from the yatra, tweeted on Wednesday, “Former union minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh goes down on his knee to tie Rahul Gandhi’s shoe lace. The arrogant entitled brat instead of helping himself is seen patting his back.”
The video was widely circulated on social media, with Malviya’s tweet garnering over 3,000 likes.
Singh clarified that he was tying his own show lace when Gandhi pointed out that his shoe lace had opened. Following that, he said that he had asked Rahul Gandhi to stop for a moment else the crowd would cross him, adding that he then stopped and tied his lace.
He further demanded an apology from Malviya to Rahul Gandhi for “misrepresenting the small matter”, and also said that he would file a defamation case against the BJP leader.
In a tweet, Singh wrote, “BJP IT cell ran FAKE news. While walking in the yatra my shoe laces came untied, then Rahul Gandhi ji saw and asked me to tie the laces. Apologize to @RahulGandhi ji for misleading the country by misrepresenting this small matter @amitmalviya.”
Meanwhile, calling Malviya “fake news peddler”, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate shared photos from the moment, and said that Rahul Gandhi paused for Singh to let him tie his lace.
She further threatened legal action against Malviya. “Open your eyes and mind, apologise to Rahul ji or be ready for legal action,” she tweeted.
The yatra entered Haryana on Wednesday from Rajasthan, and Rahul Gandhi and participants of the Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Malab village in Nuh district on the second day of its Haryana leg on Thursday. The yatra had started from Kanyakumari on September 7.