Congress admits Rahul Gandhi signed 2008 MoU with CPC, asks BJP to stop 'disinformation'

After days of silence on the 2008 MoU with China's ruling Communist Party, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Thursday admitted that Rahul Gandhi as then-Congress General Secretary signed the youth delegations exchange with a senior Chinese Minister and hit out at the BJP's "malicious disinformation campaign" against the grand old party.

Taking to Twitter, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed that all information regarding the 2008 MoU is in the public domain and said party to party delegations exchange is normal between political parties. "Congress has leadership delegations exchange with a large number of major political parties across the world. What is wrong?" said Anand Sharma.

He further said that Congress led India's freedom movement and is one of the oldest political parties in the world and asserted that questioning the party's patriotism (by the BJP) is "outrageous".

READ | 'Got Bribe From China To Push For FTA': Law Min Levels Charge On Cong-linked Foundation

BJP leaders meeting CPC members 

Anand Sharma then trained his guns on BJP in a series of tweets to "expose the BJP’s hypocrisy and double standards". He shared several cutouts of press statements of the BJP and the CPC that talked about their party exchanges and interactions between senior leaders.

"Can the BJP President @JPNadda confirm that BJP and Communist party of China too have institutional leadership delegation exchange?" Anand Sharma wrote, tagging JP Nadda. He shared photos of BJP leaders like Amit Shah, Ram Madhav, and ex-member Bhagat Singh Koshiyari meeting CPC leaders and their accompanying press statements.

"Did not the BJP receive a leadership delegation of Chinese Communist party at its HQ in August 2019? Did Congress term the BJP leadership exchange with Chinese Communist party Anti National?" asked Anand Sharma. He further asked the BJP to call off the "disinformation and sinister campaign" against Congress and Rahul Gandhi.

READ | MoS Kishan Reddy Condemns Congress After Chowdhury's 'hatching Eggs' Remark On Indian Army

Congress-CPC MoU

While Congress has repeatedly slammed PM Modi for 'denying Chinese intrusions in Ladakh', the party is already under scanner for the MoU signed by then Congress VP Rahul Gandhi and Wang Jiarui, then-Minister of the International Department of Central Committee of the CPC in the presence of then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Sonia Gandhi in 2008. The memorandum was signed to "facilitate top-level diplomatic engagement" between the two parties and consult each other over key international and regional issues.   

The BJP and Congress have simmered a bitter political faceoff following the Chinese aggression in eastern Ladakh that led to fatalities on India's side at Galwan last week, with Congress relentlessly cornering the Modi government over its handling of China and BJP hitting back with allegations of "collusion" with Beijing.

Earlier in the day, Union Law Minister and BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that Congress-affiliated Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) received "bribes from the Chinese Embassy" during the UPA government and a study done by it backed a "comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA)" that led to a "33 times" jump in Indo-China trade deficit in Beijing's favour.

READ | Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani Questions Congress For Not Making MoU With CPC Public

READ | Did Milind Deora Just Call For An 'Emergency' In Congress? Amid Rift, Read His Statement