Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday used his acknowledgement of his relationship with a woman journalist to target BJP PM nominee Narendra Modi, saying he is not a “coward” like the BJP prime ministerial candidate to hide his marital status for years.
“As far as I am concerned, I don’t hide my relationship which Mr Modi does. I am absolutely clear in this. I am not a coward which Mr Narendra Modi unfortunately is,” Singh told the mediapersons.
67-year-old Digvijay had announced on Wednesday on micro-blogging website Twitter that he was in a relationship with TV anchor Amrita Rai, who has filed for a mutual consent divorce from her first husband.
Congress, meanwhile, steered clear of questions whether Digvijay’s announcement has caused an embarassment to the party while his son and Madhya Pradesh MlA Jaiwardhan Singh said his father’s move to remarry was a “personal matter” and extended full support to him.
Jaiwardhan, who studied in the US, was elected last year to the State Assembly from Raghogarh constituency in Guna district, from where Digvijay was elected for the first time way back in 1977.
At the AICC briefing, Finance Minister P Chidambaram steered clear of questions whether Digvijay’s announcement has caused an embarassment to the Congress. “I do not comment on private life of persons whether belonging to other parties or Congress. It should be best left to the person concerned,” he said.
In the ongoing lok Sabha campaign, Digvijay was among the Congress leaders who slammed Modi, who, last month, for the first time publicly acknowledged that he is married. In his poll affidavit while filing his nomination last month for the Vadodara seat, Modi for the first time made it known that Jashodaben was his wife.
Modi entered his wife’s name in a column asking about his marital status. He had left it blank on previous occasions, including in the last Gujarat Assembly elections in 2012.