BJP distances itself from VK Singh's controversial tweet

NEW DELHI: BJP today distanced itself from the controversial tweet of Union minister VK Singh, saying twitter is personal and not a party forum and the meaning of the tweet can best be explained by the person concerned.

"Twitter is a personal platform and not a party platform and the meaning of the tweet can best be deciphered by the person concerned," BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

He lauded the government, External Affairs ministry and also Singh for his role in the success of ' Operation Raahat' for evacuating Indians from strife-torn Yemen, claiming an operation of this scale has never been carried out in the past.

Singh was caught in a fresh row yesterday over his remarks comparing the Yemen evacuation operation with his visit to the Pakistani mission recently and later tweeted making snide remarks against a TV channel.

Maintaining that 'Operation Raahat' was "humongous", Patra said other countries have extended the demand that India should help them in evacuating their citizens and the party congratulates the government, the Ministry of External Affairs and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh.

"As a party, which has its government, we can say that the government is a guardian of democracy in India and going by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', this government is committed to the fact that all the pillars of democracy - the legislature, executive, judiciary and the fourth pillar media - move together to uphold democracy and for the betterment of the poorest of the poor," he said.

Asked on how he reacts to the Minister's remark, he said the core issue is the evacuation process and it has given a great lesson of how evacuations should tak place.

"Operation Raahat is a great achievement," Patra said, while seeking to distance himself from the row over the tweet.

"Friends what do you you expect from 'presstitutes'," Singh said in a tweet late last night, adding that last time the TV anchor thought there was 'O' in place of 'E'.

He earlier said, "Actually speaking, the operation (evacuation) in Yemen is less exciting than going to the Pakistani embassy." It evoked sharp reactions from political parties including Congress which said the comments were "deplorable" and showed his "insensitivity".