Bhopal: Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday
described BJP chief Nitin Gadkari as a 'billionaire' after
latter allegedly made some derogatory remarks against him.
"I was Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for 10 long years
and Gadkari who has never won an election in his life was
minister for only one term in Maharashtra," he told PTI here.
Singh said that despite being in politics for a long
time, he was still in Gadkari's eyes a "petty leader" but for
him the BJP chief was a "billionaire".
The BJP chief had allegedly called Singh a petty leader
at a recent function in Delhi.
The Congress general secretary, who recently made
controversial statements against the RSS, said, "All my
critics should understand that whatever I had said about the
involvement of the members of the Sangh Pariwar has been
proved to be correct."
Singh said that an impression has been "wrongly" gaining
ground that he was against Hindus.
"I am a Hindu and my wife and kids are all Hindus, so it
would be wrong to say that I will ever be against Hindus," he
said.
The Congress leader said he had only talked about those
Hindus who had links with the RSS and who were found involved
in terrorist activities.
Singh had recently triggered a controversy by claiming
that slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant
Karkare had spoken to him about threats from radical
right-wing groups before his death in the 26/11 Mumbai terror
attack.
After the confession by Swami Aseemanand, allegedly
involved in Samjhauta Express blast, before a magistrate,
Singh said it was clear that RSS and BJP were sheltering
people involved in terrorist activities.
Referring to the Income Tax department's claims of having
detected disproportionate wealth valued at a whopping Rs 360
crore from suspended Madhya Pradesh IAS officer couple
Arvindand Tinu Joshi, Singh demanded an inquiry into the
assets owned by the state ministers.
"At a time when a bureaucrat couple has been found to
amass wealth in crores, it is anybody's guess how much money
is owned by ministers in Madhya Pradesh," he said.
Singh said that an assessment should be made to find out
the properties that the ministers owned in 2003 and those that
they have in their possession right now. "The assessment will
prove that ministers in Madhya Pradesh now own property
running into crores of rupees," he claimed.
The Congress leader in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and Assam,
where said that he wanted to focus his time and energy for
the two states ahead of the Assembly elections there.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 21, 2011, 18:40