On Wednesday, former Congress leader and Rahul Gandhi's close associate Jyotiraditya Scindia defected from the party and joined the BJP.
Speaking at his induction ceremony, Scindia said that the Congress was no longer how it used to be, and that the party was "not following the path of truth" and that it was "consistently failing in public service".
Addressing the topic of defection from the party to BJP, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that said there is a difference between what Scindia is saying and what is in his heart.
"I studied with Jyotiraditya. I know him very well," Gandhi added, calling Scindia's shift a "battle of ideology".
"Jyotiraditya ji was scared for his political future. So he kept his ideology in his pocket and joined the RSS," Gandhi alleged.
"But he will not get respect in the BJP," he predicted.
On Thursday, the Indian equity markets suffered their worst single-day losses, with the stock indices entering bear territory, amid coronavirus fears.
Speaking on the same, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that lakhs of people in the share market had been affected and that the economy was in a "bad condition".
Gandhi said that he had recently spoken about the threat the coronavirus poses to the economy. The Prime Minister he said was silent on the issue, while the Finance Minister remained completely unaware.
"What we have seen is only the beginning of a tsunami, things will be worse," he added.
Gandhi said that the Congress knew how to run the economy and has kept it in a better condition. "Modi ji has no idea about it," he added.
"The Prime Minister should explain what his strategy is to get us out of this mess. I have tweeted in the past few months regarding coronavirus, post which the Govt got into some action," Gandhi said, adding that it was already "too late".
(With inputs from agencies)
