In what is turning out to be a no holds barred election, senior Congressman Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday admitted to his relationship with a television journalist after intimate photographs of theirs went viral on social media, providing fodder to his detractors.
“I have no hesitation in accepting my relationship with Amrita Rai. She and her husband have already filed a mutual consent divorce case. Once that is decided we would formalise it. But I do condemn encroachment in our private life,” Mr. Singh tweeted in a bid to put to rest the salacious discussion on Twitter and Facebook. The journalist also posted a similar tweet; stating that her email/computer had been hacked and contents tampered with.
Though the relationship has been whispered about in Congress circles for months now and journalists knew about it, the media reported about it only after the social media went viral with it and some politicians took pot shots at Mr. Singh.
At the daily briefing, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said, “A new definition of morality has been given by the actions of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Sahab . Those who preach lessons should first look within themselves to see if they are practising what they are preaching to others. As far as the legal aspect of the matter of adultery is concerned, it is up to the lady’s husband to pursue the matter.”
“Congratulations Digvijay Singh for having an affair even at 67,” tweeted BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. For the BJP, this was an opportunity to hit back at the Congress for making an issue of prime ministerial candidate >Narendra Modi’s acknowledgement of his wife in his nomination papers after leaving his marital status blank in earlier elections.
Unlike Western democracies, the Indian media has by and large steered clear of reporting on personal lives of politicians and even the political class has been restrained in this regard. This election has been somewhat different with Congress Minister >Shashi Tharoor’s private life becoming a topic of discussion after his wife >Sunanda Tharoor had been found dead in mysterious circumstances amid allegations of an extra-marital relationship between him and a >Pakistani journalist just months before the polls.
Similarly, BJP leader Arun Jaitley is reported to have made a veiled reference to an alleged involvement of the former Congress Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh with a Pakistani journalist during the heat of the election campaign in Amritsar.
