Why silent on own wife, Digvijay asks Modi

Shimla, 01 Nov 2012, (IANS): Slamming Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for calling union minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife a "50-crore girlfriend", Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Thursday asked Modi about his marital status.

 

"Why is Modi silent about his wife’s name? If you can visit You Tube and search Narendra Modi’s wife, you will find the name Yashoda Ben as his wife," Singh told reporters here, questioning the common perception that the Gujarat chief minister is a bachelor.

 

Singh said Modi’s comment was not aimed at Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar alone, and has belittled all womanhood.

 

Modi’s comment came at an election rally in Himachal Pradesh three days ago, after Tharoor was brought back into the union council of ministers.

 

The Thiruvananthapuram MP had resigned from the union ministry in 2010 over the IPL Kochi episode.

 

Singh also justified Tharoor’s reply that Modi doesn’t know how to love a woman.

 

Intensifying his attack over the "proximity" between BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and political activist Arvind Kejriwal, the Congress general secretary said: "Why is Kejriwal mum over serious allegations against Gadkari? He and other so-called corruption activists have close relations with him (Gadkari)".

 

On financial irregularities in firms owned by Gadkari, Singh said the BJP chief could make a film called Slumdog Millionaire Part-II, as the directors of his firms belonged to slums.

 

Digvijay Singh accused Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur of involvement in the illegal purchase of land for educational institutions and for the construction of a sports stadium in Dharamsala.