Did not expect this from Pranab da: Ahmed Patel on former prez addressing RSS event

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today expressed his disapproval at former president Pranab Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and said he did not expect this from him.

Patel, who is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's close confidant and has been her political secretary, voiced his view on Twitter, in reply to Mukherjee's daughter who spoke out against the decision of the former president to address an RSS event.

"I did not expect this from Pranab da!" Patel said in his one line tweet.

Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee had yesterday said her father was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories.

His "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain", she said on Twitter. She also expressed the hope that the former president would realise how the BJP's "dirty tricks department" works and warned him of the consequences of attending such a meet.

Pranab Mukherjee is in Nagpur today to address an RSS event in the evening.

The visit has given rise to a lot of speculation and has been opposed both by the Congress and his 'parivar'. Some Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and C K Jaffar Sharief, have written to him. A few leaders of the party, including Anand Sharma, have personally visited him in a bid to dissuade him from going to Nagpur.

Adding to the chorus of voices, former MP and Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said he agreed with Sharmistha Mukherjee.

"... He's no longer a political person and is not directly associated with the Congress. The Sangh is expert at misusing small things in a wrong way. Those who do not have a standing of their own try and present things in a dramatic manner," he added.

Sharmistha Mukherjee's outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up.

She dismissed as "false" rumours of her joining the BJP and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department".

She said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress.