Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. Photo: ANI. (file)
Indore: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday hailed newly-elected party president Mallikarjun Kharge as an “80-year-old young man” and brushed aside as irrelevant questions on the latter’s ability to improve the fortunes of the party.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for suggesting Kharge would be a “remote control” of the Gandhi family.
“Earlier you (media) used to say a dynasty is running in the Congress, but now when Kharge has become the party president you are having issues with his age. Kharge is an 80-year-old young man,” Singh told reporters here.
Hitting out at the BJP over its oft-repeated “remote control” statement, Singh said, “Kharge’s political career is unblemished. There is nothing left with the BJP apart from levelling such charges. Is the BJP not remote-controlled by the RSS?”
Terming as irrelevant questions on how Kharge will improve the Congress’ political fortunes, the Rajya Sabha MP shot back by asking if anyone had found “any problem” with the new party chief’s walking or mental agility.
Singh also criticised Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s statement about printing images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh on currency notes.
“Kejriwal terms himself as an educated man and he was an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). His thinking that the country’s economy will improve by printing images of gods and goddesses on currency notes is not appropriate,” Singh said in response to a media query on the issue.
Asserting that the use of gods and goddesses in political discourse was inappropriate, Singh hit out at the AAP leader, saying he had been maintaining for long that “Kejriwal is the B-team of the BJP”.
Asked if he has any plans to quit politics, the Congress veteran said he had not given any thought to retirement.
Singh said his Rajya Sabha term will end in 2026, by which time he will be 79, and only then would he think about his next course of action.
This post was last modified on October 27, 2022 7:42 pm