BJP has double standards: Digvijay Singh

Taking on the BJP for criticising the UPA government's decision of FDI in retail and fuel price hike, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh charged the saffron party with adopting double standards over issues when in power and outside it.

"When the BJP is in power, it wants 100% FDI, but when it comes to opposition, it opposes this," Singh told reporters here last evening.

Similarly, the BJP prices petroleum as per market needs when in power and opposes the same when in opposition, he said.

The FDI is being opposed only by those who are in favour of middlemen, Digvijay said while claiming that the Centre's move would help both farmers and consumers.

"A state government which does not want FDI is free to do so," he said while calling it strange that Left parties were opposing FDI as it has been effected in China for last 10 years.

Doubting the credibility of the CAG, he said former CAG TN Chaturvedi had questioned the quality and manner of purchase of Bofors guns, successfully used in the Kargil war. Chaturvedi later contested elections on a BJP ticket and went on to become a Governor, Singh mentioned.

The Congress general secretary alleged that after present CAG Vinod Rai had been honoured by some foreign media, he started describing as wrong the 2G and coal block allocations. However, he did not elaborate on the statement.

He said it was strange that the CAG had not looked into coal block allocations during the NDA rule and alleged that the CAG report had been "leaked" to the media even before it was presented in Parliament.

If such a thing happens with the budget, the finance minister has to resign, he quipped.

The UPA government was ready for any discussion in Parliament but the BJP did not want the House to run, he said adding that all political parties must allow Parliament and Assemblies to function, as obstructing their business was not good in a democracy.

Meanwhile, with Assembly elections due in Gujarat later this year, Digvijay described Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a "regional leader" while terming Congress's Rahul Gandhi as a "national leader". The Congress leaders in Gujarat are enough to take on Modi, he added.

On the recent Jal Satyagraha in Madhya Pradesh, Singh said the state government should have accepted the demands earlier, instead of allowing it to go on 17 days.