India, Nov. 1 -- War of words over the losses to Delhi traders between Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the BJP is escalating further. After a round of allegations and counter-allegations from both sides, Rahul Gandhi again took a swipe at the BJP, accusing it of harming the financial interests of traders. He uploaded a short video in which he said the BJP had forcibly shut down all the shops, preventing people taking part in the protest from buying anything.

Meanwhile, traders' bodies claimed that 2.5 to 3 lakh shops in markets within a 5-kilometre radius of Ramlila Maidan remained shut on Sunday, raising concerns over festival season earnings getting hit badly due to traffic congestion in the busy central Delhi shopping distri...