Nitin Gadkari's Retort To Rahul Gandhi's 'RSS People In Ministries' Claim

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the RSS-BJP are placing their own people in key parts of the institutional structure of the country and even ministers have to work with RSS people to make decisions in their respective ministries.

Mr Gandhi made the claim during an interaction with youngsters at an event in Leh on Friday.

"The foundation of freedom in India is the Constitution. The Constitution is a set of rules and you set the constitution into action by setting up institutions which support the vision of the Constitution - the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Planning Commission, the forces, all these elements," he said.

What the BJP-RSS are doing is placing their own people in key parts of the institutional structure, he alleged.

"For example, if you go to the ministers of the government of India and ask them 'if you are actually making the decisions in your ministries'? They will tell you that there is a gentleman from the RSS who we have to work with to decide what happens in our ministry," he claimed.

Responding to Mr Gandhi's remarks, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told Aaj Tak TV channel his allegations are laughable and there is no RSS person in the ministries with which the ministers work.

On Saturday, Mr Gandhi undertook a journey on a motorcycle to Pangong Tso Lake in Ladakh.

Photographs of Gandhi, wearing biking gear, along with a few others on motorcycles heading for the lake, were released by the party on its official social media handles.

"On our way to Pangong Lake, which my father used to say, is one of the most beautiful places in the world," Gandhi said on Instagram with a picture of him on the motorcycle.

Mr Gandhi is on a visit to the Union Territory of Ladakh and is expected to return next week.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)