‘Marco Rubio summoned his employee’: Rahul Gandhi’s dig at Modi govt over ‘expected’ meeting in Mumbai

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a swipe at the government over US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s meeting with government officials in Mumbai next week, claiming that officials of the external affairs ministry were “confused” over it.

“Mr Rubio has summoned his employee to Mumbai. Modi ji, your officials in the External Affairs Ministry are confused about what’s going on. You might want to explain. Unless, of course, you want me to,” Gandhi said in a post on X.

The Congress leader’s cryptic comment was an apparent reference to remarks by US ambassador Sergio Gor at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. At the event, Gor said on Thursday that Rubio would meet Indian government officials in Mumbai and that “we expect that minister Dr S Jaishankar will be there”.

Congress leader Pawan Khera said it was the ambassador who confirmed that Rubio was skipping Delhi and “has summoned EAM to Mumbai instead”, calling it a new low for the government.

To be sure, this will be Rubio’s second visit to India this year – he last travelled to the country in May, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar and participated in a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting – and it comes at a time when India-US relations continue to be strained.

Rubio will travel to India from Uzbekistan, the first leg of a two-nation visit, and visit Mumbai and Jamnagar during the trip, the US state department announced on Wednesday. While the announcement didn’t provide the specific dates for the India visit, people familiar with the matter said he is expected to arrive in Mumbai on October 18.

He will meet senior Indian officials to “strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global dynamics, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation,” the US state department said. Rubio will also meet business leaders to promote opportunities for investment and economic cooperation.