Digvijaya Singh Ends Silence, Demands Action Against Kamal Nath's Minister Over 'Interference' Allegation

Bhopal: Days after allegations of interfering in the government and involvement in illegal mining were brought against him by state Forest Minister Umang Singhar, senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has sought action against the former.

While talking to reporters in Bhopal, Singh said all functionaries were responsible to maintain discipline in the party and those breaching it should be punished. “(Chief Minister) Kamal Nath is state president and Soniaji is national president. So they would decide on this issue,” said Singh, while adding that he would put across his views on the matter at an appropriate party forum.

When asked about his scheduled visit to Singhar’s residence earlier in the say that he skipped, Singh said that he was not diabetic and didn’t enjoy sour tea. He was referring to Singhar’s recent remarks when he said that would offer sour tea to the senior Congress leader if the latter came to visit him.

Singhar, who has for some time been speaking against Singh and even written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in this regard, took to Twitter and wrote that everyone should maintain discipline.

Singhar had recently expressed his disappointment about Singh writing letters, which were leaked to the media, to state ministers seeking appointment to enquire about progress of projects. He told News18 that he had discussed his issues with the chief minister and did want to take it further. On Tuesday, Nath had summoned senior party leaders and issued an informal whip against speaking outside party forums. He is also likely to pay a visit to Sonia and discuss the issues of infighting with her.

Singh said, “Lakhs of party workers had come together to form the government and I was writing letters for the sake of these ground-level workers… I fight for an ideology and will continue my fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”

While talking about arrest of party Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister P Chidambaram, Singh said investigators had no evidence against him in any of the cases. When asked about the arrest of Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri, the Congress veteran said he was not aware of the entire details, but claimed the central government often resorted to vendetta politics.