The cot meeting at Khalilabad in Uttar Pradesh. Picture by Piyush Srivastava Sept. 7: Rahul Gandhi today tapped into the media focus on villagers taking away cots from his mass-contact programme to draw attention to rural distress and a perceived double standard. "I want to ask the BJP leaders why they call the farmers thieves when they take away cots but call Vijay Mallya a defaulter when he runs away from the country. Naseeb Singh, the AICC secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said: "Forget cot, what we have gathered so far through this campaign is distressing. A senior leader summed up this view: "Why should we buy cots for meeting farmers?

Source: The Telegraph September 07, 2016 22:18 UTC