Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. (File Photo)
Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Sunday said Jyotiraditya Scindia won’t get the same respect and treatment in the BJP as he got in the Congress because he had spoken out against the RSS in the past.
Addressing a virtual press conference, Singh said that Scindia was like his son. He said, “When he (Scindia) was with the Congress, he had a say in appointing district presidents from Morena to Mandsaur. No other leader got the same respect in the Congress as you did. It won’t happen now because the RSS calls the shots in the BJP and you have criticised it in the past.”
“Maybe you were in a hurry to get into Narendra Modi’s ministry,” Singh said, adding that the voters will “teach a lesson” to those who brought down the Kamal Nath-led Congress government a lesson in the ensuing by-elections to 24 seats.
When asked whether the Congress would shift its MLAs in the state to resorts ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, Singh said, “Those who could be bought over have already gone,” referring to the party’s leaders and legislators, led by Scindia, who switched over to the BJP, bringing down the Nath government in March.
“There are many legislators for whom even Rs 1 crore means a lot, but they did not succumb even when offered huge sums,” he said, taking a dig at the MLAs who defected to BJP, allegedly after being offered sums in excess of Rs 30 crore.
Singh also claimed he had conveyed to Scindia that while both he and Nath are in their 70s and would soon fade away, the former Guna MP had two-three decades of active politics before him.
Recalling that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had brought the anti-defection law, Singh said the law should now be amended again to ban people’s representatives who change parties from contesting for six years.
Singh also accused Tulsiram Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput — two Scindia supporters who are now in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet — of corruption.