Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj would make a much better prime minister than saffron party’s official candidate Narendra Modi.
“I say that Sushma would be a much better Prime Minister than Modi due to a number of reasons. Unlike Modi, Sushma Swaraj has an image of a moderate leader. She had begun her political career with the JP movement during her student days, and later drifted towards the BJP,” Singh said.
By putting Swaraj ahead of Modi, Singh tried to drive the wedge between the BJP’s top leadership. However, not to fall into the trap laid by the Congress leader, Swaraj returned the compliment with a equally eloquent repartee.
“Even I think that Digvijay Singhji is a better candidate than Rahul Gandhi,” she said in a message.
The light-hearted verbal duel provided a respite from usual slanging match between the political opponents.
Digvijay Singh set the tone for this duel as he said “Sushma is more acceptable to allies” of the BJP, similar to Atal Bihari Vajpayee was.
“Sushma has conducted herself as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha in a very dignified manner, although it was under her leadership that the Lower House of Parliament had faced maximum number of disruptions,” Digvijay said.
As the BJP saw that Digvijay’s comment had the potential of creating further controversy, Sushma’s reaction was sent out to the media immediately. The saffron party also hit at Digvijay Singh for raking up the issue. “Our party has taken a decision after due deliberations. We don’t need his advise. But let me ask him who is his party’s PM candidate? The courtiers in the Congress backed Rahul Gandhi for it, but he did not accept the challenge,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.