BJP slams Digvijay Singh, Shashi Tharoor; says remarks 'insult' to people

NEW DELHI: BJP today hit out at Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Shashi Tharoor over their reactions to the hanging of Yakub Memon, saying their comments were "insult" to the people wanting to get rid of terrorism, and that any politics over is regrettable.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked Singh, saying his comments "seek to question the judicial process", and spoke of Singh's attempts at "alignment" between judicial process and politics. "It is regrettable and unfortunate," he said.

Prasad said he chose to ignore Tharoor's tweets against the hanging, which the Congress MP dubbed as "state-sponsored killing", and added that he was "more troubled" by Singh's comments as he was a Congress general secretary, chief minister for 10 years and an "adviser" to party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Prasad's ministerial colleague Rajiv Pratap Rudy said he was shocked with Tharoor's comments and termed them as "bizarre".

"Can terrorism remain sans politics? Can the process of justice be discarded by a tweet of a senior member of Parliament," he wondered, adding that the judicial process had been completed in Memon's case before he was hanged today.

Prasad noted the Supreme Court had an unprecedented hearing at 3 AM, in which it rejected his lawyers' last-gasp attempts to stay his hanging.

Taking a dig at Tharoor, Rudy said he had been handling many cases and should be familiar with legal process.

"If such was his feelings, he should have intervened at right time but not debate an issue when it has been settled," he said.

BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma took on the Congress over its two leaders' comments, saying the opposition party had always spoken in different voice on terrorism.

"Whether it is Mani Shankar Aiyar or Digvijay Singh and we have comments from Tharoor today, they (Congress) have always seen to be speaking for terrorists. It is clear from their statements today that they are insulting the peace-loving people who want to get rid of terrorism," Sharma said.