NEW DELHI: A day after the Congress sought an apology from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP hit out at the main Opposition party in the Parliament, saying it is no longer a conventional political outfit representing certain ideology but a "conglomeration believing in divinity and devotion to a family".
The Union Minister of Law Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that there was nothing wrong in the raincoat remarks of the Prime Minister on Dr Manmohan Singh, as "fun, pun and repartee" have been part of the parliamentary debate.
He charged that the Congress is using Singh as a "useful, expendable" outsider likes many top leaders outside the Gandhi family. Modi had launched a scathing attack on Singh in the concluding debate in the Rajya Sabha on the address of the President to the joint session of the Parliament. Prasad reminded the Congress that even Singh had asserted that demonetisation was "organised loot and legalised plunder".
The BJP leader noted that the former Prime Minister might have read from the note written by some other Congress leaders as he had not been known to use such strong expressions.
"Congress has two set of leaders. Ones who come from the family are beyond criticism. They cannot make a mistake. The second set of leaders are those who are used for political convenience and then discarded. Singh also has his utility,” quipped Prasad, while addressing the media at the BJP headquarter.
He added that the Congress had similarly used leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh, V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P V Narasimha Rao and I K Gujral.