Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today courted another controversy by saying he did not rule out the involvement of Sangh in Mumbai serial blasts, evoking sharp criticism and condemnation from BJP.
Even as various intelligence agencies are yet to get a breakthrough in the Mumbai blasts, Singh did not rule out the involvement of the Sangh in the bombings.
"I do not rule out anything. If they want evidence about Sangh's involvement in terror activity, I have got evidence. But not in this case," Singh told the media.
Reacting sharply to the Congress leader's comments, the BJP termed them as "disgusting and objectionable" and sought an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi for what Singh had said.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad charged the Congress leader with trying to destabilise the nation by making such statements, while his colleague Shahnawaz Hussain accused him of trying to divert the course of investigations into the Mumbai blasts and politicking on a sensitive issue like terrorism and dead bodies.
"The BJP strongly condemns the disgusting statements of Digvijay Singh and seeks an apology from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on this," party spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters here.
"While the threat of terrorism is looming large over the whole nation and people need to be balmed after being hurt by the shock of Mumbai blasts, Digvijay Singh is playing politics over terror and dead bodies. He is trying to divert the course of investigations into the Mumbai terror attack by making such statements."
"Even when the Home Minister and the nation's investigating agencies are not in a position to tell anything about who is behind the recent Mumbai blasts and are still investigating, what sources does Digvijay Singh have to make such statements," Hussain questioned.
"Is he above the intelligence agencies or the Home Minister that he is giving such statements," he asked.
Asking Digvijay Singh to maintain some standards, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "When the nation needs to speak in one voice and when everyone is pointing towards Pakistan, who is trying to destabilise India by attacking its sovereignty, you are playing dirty politics on corpses".
Prasad also lamented that "nothing better is expected from a man who gave clean chit to Suresh Kalmadi, in spite of mounting evidence against him. What is troubling is that they have their eyes and ears in important heirarchy of the Congress party".
Earlier, talking to reporters, Hussain defended the RSS, saying, "It is a nationalist organisation to which even former prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru has agreed on". He added that the BJP viewed Singh's statement as that of the Congress as he is considered a close confidant of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
"What Rahul Gandhi does not wish to say himself, he makes Digvijay speak", said the BJP leader, maintaining further that "Digvijay Singh's statement is a pre-determined and pre-planned political game and is given at the instance of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi".
Lashing out at the Congress leader, Hussain said, "Digvijay Singh has "oral diarrhoea" and he has no control over his language and selection of words before making such utterances. He is trying to pollute the nation's politics".