BJP wants to 'take away' Indira's sacrifice: Digvijay Singh

VIJAYAWADA ( ANDHRA PRADESH): Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today alleged that by declaring October 31 as 'Rashtriya Ekta Divas' to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, BJP was trying to belittle former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

"Just to sort of, I would say, take away the supreme sacrifice of Indira Gandhi, they have brought in Patel's birth anniversary.

"We don't mind if birth anniversary of Sardar Patel is celebrated but when the earlier government had already declared October 31 (the day Indira Gandhi was assassinated) as 'national integration day', why should they bring this into a controversy," he told a press conference here.

"This is a diabolical plan of the BJP-RSS," he said.

"Again, they want to sort of see to it that Mahatma Gandhi is remembered only in cleanliness campaign. We see the spectacle in the Swachh Bharat campaign but not remember Mahatma Gandhi as a person who believed in truth and non-violence. (As) A messenger of peace which he is known for throughout the world," the Congress Rajya Sabha member said.

He also accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of "compromising the interests of people of AP" by giving up the issue of special category status for the state. "This is his compromise with the BJP".

Naidu did not have faith in the enterprise and entrepreneurship of Telugu people and wanted to bring in foreign technology and even machinery, Singh said.

"He says our engineers, who built Nagarjuna Sagar and other big projects, are only fit to construct drains," he said, referring to the construction of the state's new capital and other major projects.

"This is the thinking of the AP Chief Minister who is doing his best to inflate the figures of the projects and who has publicly said every candidate contesting for MLA will be given Rs 10 crore. He said it openly," said Singh who is AICC general secretary in charge of AP.

"He used to brag like this before the 2004 elections also but because of the hard work of the Congressmen under YSR's leadership, we defeated the moneybags of TDP. We will do it again," the Congress leader said.