'Divisive mentality': Shivraj Singh on Rahul Gandhi's north-south remark

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing his party of playing divisive politics, and questioned if his party wanted to divide the country into North and South.

Chouhan was speaking about a remark made by Gandhi in Thiruvananthapuram where he was talking about his experience in a different type of politics.

"Not Rahul, it's his divisive mentality that is speaking. It is the same Congress that divided the country into India and Pakistan on the basis of religion," Chouhan said, in a video shared by ANI.

"Do they now want to divide it into North and South? People will not let such efforts succeed," the chief minister said.

Gandhi, while speaking at the concluding rally of the 'Aishwarya Yatra', led by Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala, said he learnt a lot from Kerala and understood a bit about the "wisdom of the people" here.

The Congress leader said that he found the politics practised in Kerala refreshing as opposed to that of the northern part of the country.

"For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north. I had gotten used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues and not just superficially but going into detail in issues," Gandhi said.

The Wayanad MP added that being a politician in Kerala has been a learning experience and pleasure.

"I was talking to some students in the US and I said that I really enjoy going to Kerala. It's not just affection but the way you do your politics. If I might say so, the intelligence with which you do your politics," Gandhi said.

So, for me, it's been a learning experience and pleasure, he said.