Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised questions on Friday about a proposed visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Mumbai the following week for meetings with Indian government officials, asserting that the External Affairs Ministry appeared uncertain about the arrangement. Gandhi added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would likely need to address the matter publicly.

Gandhi's comments followed by a day a statement from US envoy Sergio Gor, who indicated that Rubio was scheduled to hold talks with Indian government officials in Mumbai and that External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was anticipated to attend.

Writing via X, Gandhi characterised the situation as Rubio directing his subordinate to travel to Mumbai, and stated that reports from the External Affairs Ministry pointed to a lack of clarity among its officials about the current state of affairs.

Neither the government nor the BJP had put forward any response to Gandhi's remarks by the time of publication.

A planned itinerary for Rubio next week includes a stop at the Reliance facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat, followed by meetings with External Affairs Ministry officials in Mumbai. His itinerary takes him through Samarkand in Uzbekistan before the schedule shifts to Mumbai and Jamnagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, across the period spanning October 17 to 22.

On Thursday, the Congress party put questions to the Ministry of External Affairs over how Rubio's visit to India had been handled, seeking an explanation for the absence of any public statement on the Mumbai meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the American official.

Jairam Ramesh, who holds the communications portfolio within the Congress party's general secretariat, noted that Gor's elaboration on Rubio's planned trip to Mumbai carried little element of surprise, adding that the indication of Rubio meeting government officials there was, in his view, broadly in keeping with what one might expect. Posting on X, Ramesh described the phrasing — "we expect the Minister Dr Jaishankar to be joining us there along with other individuals" — as notably unusual, and separately raised a question about why announcements concerning the external affairs minister's domestic engagements were being communicated by a party other than the MEA's official spokesperson.

At an interactive session held during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Gor indicated that a Mumbai visit by Rubio would include meetings with Indian government officials, adding that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was anticipated to attend alongside other Delhi-based officials who would travel to the city for the engagement.