New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Friday hailed the three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit for her statement that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was “not as strong and determined” as Narendra Modi in responding to terror attacks.
“Thank you Sheila Dikshit for reiterating what the nation already knows but the Congress party is never ready to admit,” Shah said in a tweet.
When asked in a television interview on Thursday evening to respond to criticism that Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government did not do much after 2008 Mumbai terror attack, Dikshit said, “Manmohan Singh, yes I agree with you, was not as strong and as determined as Modi is.”
Dikshit later tweeted that her comments had been taken out of context.
“Here is what I said — it may seem to some people that Mr Modi is stronger on terror but I think this is a poll gimmick more than anything else,” she tweeted on Friday.
Reacting to Dikshit’s remarks, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed her accusing her of collusion with the saffron party.
“Congress has a secret understanding with BJP. This statement of Sheila Dikshit is extremely shocking. It appears that something is cooking between BJP and Congress,” AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal told media.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said Congress was working to make Modi the PM again.
“Over the years, depending on their convenience and according to time and situation, BJP and Congress have not hesitated to come together,” Sisodia said.
Later AAP released an official statement where they condemned the remarks of Delhi Congress chief Dikshit.
“Delhi is one of the prime examples that witnessed this phenomenon many times during the last four years, when the Congress did not hesitate even for a moment to join hands with the BJP. Delhi Congress unit, during the last four years, left no stone unturned in joining hands with the BJP to stall public welfare policies of the elected Delhi government,” the AAP statement read.
Earlier this week, Dikshit had cleared the air that there would be no tie-up with AAP, and Congress will go it alone on all seven Parliamentary seats in Delhi.
Congress has been under pressure to form an alliance with AAP as part of the new opposition strategy since the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. But at a meeting with Gandhi this week, Delhi Congress leaders unanimously voted against the idea of an alliance with AAP.
Dikshit has been one of the key leaders against the idea of an alliance with Kejriwal
