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NEW DELHI, MAY 15: The BJP has trashed Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to Bundelkhand as inspired by “astrological calculations”. “Not many are aware that Rahul Baba had spent three days visiting Bundelkhand not to gauge the extent of poverty in the area, but to meet his astrologer,” writes the opening page editorial in the latest issue of BJP mouthpiece Kamal Sandesh.

While the Congress general secretary regarded his Bundelkhand visit as his most important political intervention till date, where he also spent a night in a Dalit household, the BJP mouthpiece, clearly, thinks otherwise. It says: “He is indulging in all his antics on astrological advice. The astrologer, according to reports, remained with Rahul for three days”. On his intermingling with Dalit families, the BJP organ writes: “Rahul Baba is visiting the poor man’s huts without doing anything tangible to remove their poverty and sufferings (sic)”. In its previous issue, too, the BJP mouthpiece had said that “it is not sure whether he is touring Bundelkhand to meet people or visit his astrologer”.

Asked about the basis of these assertions, magazine editor Prabhat Jha, recently elected to the Rajya Sabha, said it was based on “local media reports”. “I will raise the issue in the House in the coming session,” said Jha, who is also a BJP national secretary, attached to party president Rajnath Singh’s office.

Former party president M Venkaiah Naidu, who heads the Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Trust that brings out the fortnightly, said he had not seen the editorial. “I’ve been busy with the Karnataka elections. If Rahul is going all round to learn more about the country, I have nothing to add to that. I’ve to find out more about this Kamal Sandesh editorial,” he added. When contacted, Rahul’s office refused to react to the editorial.