At a time when fault lines appeared to harden in the Congress between the high command of the Gandhi family and an increasingly isolated group of senior rebels, Digvijay Singh was seen praising Union Home Minister Amit Shah for helping him out during the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections.
Addressing a gathering on Thursday evening, the senior Congress leader said, ‘During the 2017 polls, while travelling to Gujarat from Maharashtra, we were stuck in the middle of a forest area at around 10.30 pm as there was no road to go through it. To my surprise, a forest officer came up to me and said that Amit Shah had sent him to help them out.’
He added, ‘The officer said that he had been asked by Shah to help Singh and his team out. This is at a time when the elections are on and I am one of the harshest critics of the BJP. Despite that, Shah had asked the officer to help us, who not only got us out of the area but also arranged food and other necessary stuff for all.’
Saying that it is this political balance that leaders have forgotten nowadays, Singh said, ‘Till that point, I and Shah had never spoken face-to-face. However, I conveyed my regards and thanked him for the help. It is this mutual respect that we often tend to forget.’
The statement comes at a time when many leaders among the old guard went public with their criticism of how the party was being run. P Chidambaram, in a carefully calibrated tweet, said: ‘I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP. The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence.’ Chidambaram could not be reached for comment.’
