New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's tour of flood-hit Tamil Nadu has run into controversy. Images have emerged of former union minister V Narayanasamy holding slippers for the Congress Vice President who was walking barefoot in waterlogged Puducherry on Tuesday.
Narayanasamy has justified the move saying that he offered his own slippers to Rahul. "It is the duty of a Congres worker to take care of our guest. I bent down and gave my chappal to Rahul Gandhi after he had taken off his shoes and was walking barefoot. I do not see anything wrong in it. I offered my chappal," said Narayansamy.
The Congress has refused to comment on the controversial images
The 68-year-old Congress leader was minister of state with the Prime Minister's Office during UPA 2.
Rahul on Tuesday visited rain-ravaged parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry and sought speedy action to ameliorate the suffering of the people, saying politics should not be done over relief work.
This is not the first time a Congress leader is accused of carrying the slippers of Gandhi family members. The then Maharashtra minister of state for home, Ramesh Bagwe's act of bending down and picking up Rahul Gandhi's shoes, as he paid homage to Ambedkar's statue in Mumbai had hit national headlines in early 2010.
Bagwe was accused of advocating the "ji-hujur culture", which opposition said it is rampant in the Congress. Bagwe, however, said the only reason he moved the shoes was because they were close to the statue's pedestal.
According to a long-time trusted aide of Gandhi family ML Fotedar, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh ND Tiwari had carried the slippers of Congress general secretary Sanjay Gandhi in the 1970s.
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