The Congress is ‘surprised’ at the selection of Kiran Bedi as its Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi, and it only spoke of the ‘bankruptcy’ in BJP leadership, said Digvijaya Singh, AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge here on Saturday.
How could the BJP do a volte face in choosing Ms. Bedi, who had accused the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat of 2002 riots, he asked. Addressing a press conference here after a meeting with the senior Congress leaders, Mr. Singh said he had mentioned in 2011 of the ‘political ambitions’ of the India Against Corruption leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal, Ms. Bedi and Gen. V.K. Singh. They had prevailed upon Anna Hazare then not to speak against the involvement of BJP leaders in corruption cases, he alleged. The Congress also condemns the controversial comments of BJP MPs, including Sakshi Maharaj, who were raking up issues such as ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Ghar Vapsi’ and others, which would not augur well for the society Mr. Singh said. He felt pity for BJP leaders in Delhi such as Harsh Vardhan and others who had lost out to a “paratrooper” making a surprise landing (a reference to Ms. Bedi). Pulling up the Narendra Modi government for failing on all fronts, including failure to bring back the black money stashed away abroad, as promised by it, Mr. Singh accused the Centre of opposing the programmes of the UPA first and then doing a U-turn to adopt them with renewed vigour such as Aadhaar.