Tsunami warning: Digvijay to speak on behalf of both Congress & BJP

An exclusive interview with Congress’s warrior with words; imagined soon after LK Advani resigned

shantanu

Shantanu Datta | June 10, 2013



With all Congressmen and women waking up to realise the real value of LK Advani ever since he is said to have said that Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s humility reminds him of Vajpayee, and is said to have been quiet on Narendra Modi’s humility, Digvijay Singh is the man of the moment for all reporters on the BJP beat.

As of Monday afternoon, within an hour or two after Advani resigned from three key symbolic party posts, reporters were making frantic calls to the senior Congress leader and Chouhan’s predecessor as MP CM by a decade or two. Reason: miffed at constant badgering for his “reactions” to Advani’s resignation, one BJP spokesperson is said to have ticked off the whole bunch, telling them, “If you want a quote on Advani, go to Digvijay Singh. He is finding and minding Advani’s conscience these days.”

While the forever-affable Singh was unavailable to most sections and sub-sections of the media, we managed to corner him on a street corner and dish out four questions to the senior Congress leader. Read the edited excerpts with a pinch of salt.

What is your reaction to LK Advani’s resignation?
(Laughs loudly) Sir Issac Newton cannot be wrong. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, since Advani ji has resigned because Modi has been promoted, I expect Modi to resign because Advani ji has been demoted. Advani ji deserves at least this much respect in the party he built so assiduously over the decades. I feel really bad for Advani ji.  

Will you try and convince Advani to take back his resignation letter?
My first name is not Rajnath. That’s for the other Singh to answer. On my part, I will see what can be done to get some funds to start a social media cell to shore up support for Advani. These geeks will forward, share and retweet everything I say on Advani, Modi, resignation, stagnation, frustration, superannuation, expectation, tension, stomach ailments, upset tummies and Pudin Hara – or any of the SEO-loving key search words you put in your last three reports on Modi, Advani, BJP, tension, frustration, resignation....

... Do you think Modi should resign over Advani’s resignation?
I have already cited Newton on this subject. 

Who do you think should be the BJP’s poll panel chief?
That is for my party president to decide. As you know we don't decide anything in our party and that is why we are united. Now if you excuse me, I have to meet the doctor who advised Advani-ji to go on a three-day medical leave. I have to find out the antidote for upset stomach for people in my party, just in case the serving prime minister is declared as the man deserving to be third-time lucky

Comments

 

Other News

What really happened in ‘The Scam That Shook a Nation’?

The Scam That Shook a Nation By Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai HarperCollins, 276 pages, Rs 399 The 1970s were a

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape:

PM Modi visits Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh in Moscow

Prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by president Vladimir Putin, visited the All Russian Exhibition Centre, VDNKh, in Moscow Tuesday. The two leaders toured the Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh. The Rosatom pavilion, inaugurated in November 2023, is one of the largest exhibitions on the histo

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter