By Loveena Tandon: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is in England on a 10-day visit. The Wayanad MP will be in London for three days where he will be speaking at the British Parliament, meeting the Indian diaspora, addressing a press conference organized by the Indian Journalist Association, holding private business meetings, and giving a talk at a well-known London think tank, Chatham House.

The senior Congress leader will be in London from March 4-6. He will be leaving the city the next day. Gandhi is accompanied by Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) head, Sam Pitroda.

Rahul’s London visit is just an “attachment” to his Cambridge University trip where he gave a presentation earlier this week, said Sam Pitroda to India Today.

Pitroda is a tech innovator-entrepreneur and is widely known to be a close political aide of Rahul Gandhi.

While in London, Rahul Gandhi will be holding an audience with the Indian diaspora too. “The registrations have gone over 2,000,” said Kamal Dhaliwal, UK president of the Indian Overseas Congress in an interview with India Today.

Address at UK Parliament

It is in the Grand Committee Room of the Palace of Westminster that Rahul Gandhi will be addressing the UK MPs, Lords, Baronesses’ and other attendees on March 6. Chair of the Indo-British APPG, an MP of Indian origin, Virendra Sharma, who has arranged the parliament event told India Today, “The debate is not limited to a political future, but must embrace the cultural, social and business ties that bind both countries, as the people are the living bridge.”

Clarifying that the speech is organized in one of the “parliamentary committee rooms,” and not the chambers itself, Sharma elaborated on the real interest is to see, “if the Congress party comes back into power how they will deal with the future leaders and the future governments of Britain, especially when India and the UK both are fundamentally key allies, democratic, progressive and committed to the rules based international order.”

What else is on Rahul's agenda?

Rahul Gandhi is also speaking at one of the UK’s premier think tanks, Chatham House, on the same day as the parliament event. He will also be holding some private business meetings during the weekend.

The Congress MP might also meet the Labour Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs, David Lammy. However, there is no official confirmation yet. The Labour Party is tipped to win the next general election in the UK as of now.

During Rahul Gandhi’s May 2022 visit, his meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, the then-leader of the Labour party, sparked controversy back home in India with the BJP.

Jeremy Corbyn is often seen as an “anti-India” figure for his stance on Kashmir.

References:

indiatoday.in