While the Congress general secretary regarded his Bundelkhand visit as his most important political intervention till date, where he also spent a night in a Dalit household, the BJP mouthpiece, clearly, thinks otherwise. It says: “He is indulging in all his antics on astrological advice. The astrologer, according to reports, remained with Rahul for three days”.

On his intermingling with Dalit families, the BJP organ writes: “Rahul Baba is visiting the poor man’s huts without doing anything tangible to remove their poverty and sufferings (sic)”. In its previous issue, too, the BJP mouthpiece had said that “it is not sure whether he is touring Bundelkhand to meet people or visit his astrologer”.

Asked about the basis of these assertions, magazine editor Prabhat Jha, recently elected to the Rajya Sabha, said it was based on “local media reports”. “I will raise the issue in the House in the coming session,” said Jha, who is also a BJP national secretary, attached to party president Rajnath Singh’s office.