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Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday stoked a fresh controversy with his remarks that the serial blasts at Bodhgaya happened a day after Narendra Modi asked BJP workers to teach a lesson to Nitish Kumar and Amit Shah visited Ayodhya.
Congress sought to wriggle out of the controversy saying all five posts of Singh on Twitter need to be understood in entirety and no one should politicise the bomb blast issue. The BJP took strong objection to his tweets saying it appears "he has lost his balance."
"Aren't they suggesting a Muslim involvement without full investigation? Flip side of this. Amit Shah promises a GrandTemple at Ayodhya... Modi addresses Bihar BJP workers and asks them to teach Nitish a lesson. Next day bomb blasts at MahabodhiTemple at Bodhgaya... Is there a connect? I don't know. ALLOW NIA TO COMPLETE INVESTIGATION PLEASE!," Singh tweeted while referring to remarks of BJP leaders.
Congress spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das said that Congress believes that there should be "no kite flying" on such issues till the investigations into the blasts are over.
Das remained ambivalent despite being subjected to a volley of questions on whether the party has objections with either the content of Singh's remarks or its language or it endorses Singh's remarks.
He ducked most of the questions on the issue merely repeating the party's overall view on such incidents.
"Congress believes that there should be no kite flying on such grave incidents.... we would not like to point fingers at anyone before the investigation is over by the NIA or any agency of the state government. All political parties should desist from politicising such incidents," Das told reporters at the AICC briefing.
BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar said that Singh's comments should not be taken seriously as they have no meaning or significance. "He talks as if he has lost his balance," Kumar said.
Replying to questions, Das said, "If we go through the tweets of Digivijay Singh, I request you not to read particular tweet. His tweets should be read in entirety...I have gone through his five tweets in entirety. His tweets justify this what I say."
The Congress spokesperson added "please do not see one tweet. If you read five tweets together, the political meaning gets clear. We are very clear that there should not be any politics on such issues. We do not believe in indulging in politics on such issues."
Singh, who is not new to controversies, also attacked Modi and BJP in his tweets for "suggesting a Muslim involvement without full investigation" into the Sunday blast at Mahabodhi temple.
In his tweets, Singh had taken a dig at Modi and a number of BJP leaders.
"Rudy- Within two weeks Law and Order in Bihar has become very bad! Ravi Shankar Pd-Pune Blast accused did recce quoting Delhi Police... Media and BJP - Reaction of Myanmar incidents quoting IB sources. Bihar Govt ignored IB input. Aren't they doing Politics over the incident?”
Singh had on Sunday accused BJP of communalising politics in the run up to impending elections and asked non-BJP ruled states to be watchful.
Taking strong objection to Singh's tweets against him, BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told PTI that the Congress general secretary's "record of politicising and communalising terrorism is too well-known."
Maintaining that he had raised only "legitimate concerns" regarding the serial blasts, the BJP leader said that he had merely pointed out that repeated intelligence inputs were ignored and over ten timer bombs could be installed by terrorists.