Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to leave for a five-day visit to Europe next month and meet European Commission lawmakers in Belgium among other planned programmes, reported the news agency PTI citing sources. Gandhi will also address students at a university in Paris and the Indian diaspora at an event in Oslo in early September, sources told PTI. The Congress MP is likely to leave for Paris in the first week of September. Notably, his visit abroad will come at a time when India will be hosting the crucial G20 Summit from September 9 to 10 in the national capital.
According to PTI, sources said that Rahul Gandhi will also attend a meeting with European Union members in Brussels on September 7. The former Congress president will address students at a university in Paris on September 8 and deliver a lecture there. He is also scheduled to participate in a meeting of the Labour Union of France in Paris on September 9.
After this, he will visit Norway where he will address the Indian diaspora event on September 10. Sources told the news agency that Gandhi may also hold a press conference after the meeting with the Indian community members in Oslo.
Earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi visited United Kingdon for a week-long trip where he addressed a gathering at Cambridge University which created a ruckus in India. BJP claimed that his comments on Indian democracy maligned the country's image abroad.
Gandhi had alleged that the structures of Indian democracy were under attack and there was a "full-scale assault" on the country's institutions. He also told a group of British MPs in London that microphones are often "turned off" in Lok Sabha when an opposition member raises important issues.
"Our microphones are not out of order, they are functioning, but you still can't switch them on. That's happened to me a number of times while I am speaking," Gandhi had said.
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