Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attended a rock concert in poll-bound Meghalaya
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, pummelled by the BJP over a Burberry jacket he wore to a concert in Meghalaya last night, said today that "somebody gave that to me". But he could not stop the deluge of "suit-boot" style digs on social media, which had the figure "70,000" trending briefly.
That is the price of the jacket, or close enough, insisted the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi visited the party-ruled northeastern state to prep for the February 27 election. Attending a concert in state capital Shillong, he ditched his regulation white kurta for a black convertible jacket and jeans.
The BJP's Meghalaya unit soon shared an image of the 47-year-old in the Burberry jacket, along with a picture from the British luxury brand's catalogue with the price - nearly thousand dollars or roughly Rs 63,400.
"The Congress left the northeast poor while their leaders roam around in 70K jackets," sneered BJP leader Ram Madhav.
"Somebody gave that to me," Mr Gandhi later said, which the Congress leaders explained, meant it was a gift.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who performed the song "We Shall Overcome" at the concert, defended his party chief. "How does it matter? It's cold here so he can't wear a kurta! Just because Mr Modi wears designer..."
But the BJP was not about to give up its chance to avenge Rahul Gandhi's "suit-boot" dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's famous name-striped suit worn during former US president Barack Obama's visit in 2015.
Some tweets reminded Rahul Gandhi of his "torn kurta" look.The monogrammed suit worn just once by PM Modi was auctioned for Rs 4.31 crore.
"They auctioned Modi's jacket for crores... These are the same people who are talking about Rahul's jacket?" scoffed Congress leader Renuka Chaudhary, adding that she could produce the same jacket for a price of "Rs 700 instead of Rs 70,000".
What softened the sting of the "jacket" barbs were photos on social media of Rahul Gandhi helping fellow passengers with their luggage on the Delhi-Guwahati flight on Tuesday.