Rahul Gandhi along with his mother Sonia Gandhi were on a three-day private visit to Goa. (File photo)
If you are in Goa, why not visit the recently opened cable-held bridge, the BJP suggested Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who was on a three-day break with his mother in the coastal state. The Congress leader returned to work today and addressed a rally in Chhattisgarh's Naya Raipur.
After the ruling BJP got to know about his Goa holiday, the party took a dig at the Congress chief by extending an invite to visit the 5.1 kilometre cable-stayed bridge, the Atal Setu, on the Mandovi River.
The cable-stayed bridge, the third on the Mandovi River, was inaugurated by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday.
The BJP's Goa unit "requested" him to bring along Congress legislators in the state to see how the ruling party was "transforming" India.
On Sunday, Rahul Gandhi was spotted at the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant in South Goa, where he had arrived for lunch with his mother and former party president Sonia Gandhi.
In a shift from his regular monochrome look -- a white kurta with a black Burberry puffer jacket -- he was seen in a blue t-shirt. He obliged fellow diners with selfies at the restaurant popular for its array of seafood.
A Goa-based dentist Rachna Fernandes, who was dining with her family, said that the mother-son politician duo arrived minus their security officers and had a quiet lunch.
"He is too nice to be in the bad, bad world of politics," the dentist said.
According to a Goa Congress spokesperson, the party president and Sonia Gandhi were on a private visit and there were no official engagements scheduled during their stay in Goa.
Goa, a beach and nightlife tourism hub, witnesses a high footfall of tourists through the year.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who attended the inauguration of the bridge, said the new structure will ease traffic congestion and will benefit the people of Goa as well as tourists.