Rahul Gandhi's faux pas, calls himself Leader of Opposition, refers to Yes Bank as Axis Bank

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (March 12, 2020) committed yet another faux pas when he called himself ''the Leader of Opposition'' and referred to Yes Bank as Axis Bank while sharing his concerns on the current monetary crisis with the former.  “I am the leader of the Opposition, I am bringing the attention of people of India to a very serious problem. The central problem is that our biggest strength which was our economy has now become a huge weakness,’’ Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a press conference here.

It may be noted that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, who is the Member of Parliament from Berhampore, West Bengal, is currently serving as the Leader of Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha.

The Gandhi scion also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over his handling of the economy and the Coronavirus outbreak, claiming that there is no preparation regarding the deadly virus.

"There is no preparation with respect to Coronavirus. The Indian government is sleeping. They do not realise that coronavirus is spreading in this country. And it is going to have devastating consequences. Our Prime Minister is sleeping," Rahul said.

Slamming the PM Modi over the present condition of the economy, Rahul urged him to speak to the country regarding the same. 

“Everyone can see the state of the economy. India's strength was its economy, Narendra Modi's ideology and policies have destroyed it. The problem of Coronavirus is very serious but the government has not taken action the way it should have,” Rahul said.

Attacking the government further, Rahul alleged that PM Narendra Modi is "sleeping at the wheel".

On the current state of the economy, Rahul said it is just the beginning of a "Tsunami" and things would be worse going forward. "We can see what is happening to stock market. The economy has been destroyed by the Modi government," Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.

"What we have seen is only the beginning of a Tsunami, things will be worse," he said.

The Prime minister is not speaking a word on the economy and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman does not understand the economy, the former Congress chief alleged.

He also said that coronavirus is seriously affecting the economy and it is already too late, but the government should take measures to minimise damage. 

During his press conference, he also mistakenly referred to Yes Bank as Axis Bank while expressing his concerns regarding the former.

Shifting his focus to his former party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul said that he abandoned his ideology and "went with RSS" because he was "worried about his political future". 

Speaking to reporters, Rahul said, "This is a fight of ideologies. On one side is Congress and on other side is BJP-RSS. I know Jyotiraditya Scindia`s ideology, he was with me in college, I know him well. He got worried about his political future, abandoned his ideology and went with RSS. But the reality is that he won`t get respect there. What he is saying and what is in his heart is different."

When asked why he`s not sending his core team members to Rajya Sabha, the Congress leader said, "I am not Congress President, I am not taking decisions on Rajya Sabha nominees. I am informing the youth of the country about the economy. Who is in my team, who is not in my team is irrelevant. Millions and millions of people in India are going to suffer like they have not suffered before."

Scindia was formally inducted into the BJP fold on Wednesday. Earlier, he had resigned from Congress party.