Doklam standoff: Sushma Swaraj slams Rahul Gandhi for meeting Chinese envoy

Says instead of considering Indian govt view, Congress VP went and met the Chinese diplomat

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday hit out at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for meeting Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui last month, amid the Doklam border stand off instead of trying to understand the situation from the Indian government.

"I was very saddened that the opposition instead of considering the point of view of the Indian government, went and met the Chinese Ambassador.

"They did not try to understand the situation (the border standoff) from the Indian government, instead approached the Chinese counterpart to get their point of view," said Sushma Swaraj, replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on foreign policy.

The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi had posted on its website about the July 8 meeting between Gandhi and Luo, but later withdrew it.

The embassy had said in its 'Wechat' account: "On July 8, Ambassador Luo Zhaohui met with Rahul Gandhi, vice-president of the Congress party. The two sides exchanged views on the current China-India relations and other business. Counsellor Zhou Yuyun attended the meeting."

Gandhi had defended his meeting with the Ambassador saying it was his job to be informed of critical issues. He had also met the Bhutanese envoy and former NSA Shivshankar Menon, among other officials.