Digvijaya Singh dares govt to arrest him after BJP alleges Maoist links

Levelling fresh charges against the opposition Congress, the BJP on Tuesday alleged a link between former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and people arrested by Pune police in June for alleged Maoists link.

Denying the charge, Singh challenged the BJP government to arrest him.

At a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "A letter between 2 comrades - Surendra (Gadling) and Prakash of 25 September 2017 has been found in recent raids. A line in letter reads, 'Congress leaders are very much willing to assist in this process and have also agreed to fund further agitations whenever such opportunities arrive. In this regard, you can contact our friend on this ..... number'."

Patra alleged that the number mentioned in the purported letter belongs to Digvijaya Singh.

"This phone number belongs to none other than (Congress president) Rahul Gandhi's mentor and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. Digvijaya Singh hasn't clarified that it's not his number and thus, has accepted that it's his," Patra said. 

The letter cited by Patra was part of a bunch of documents seized by the Pune police during the searches at the premises of five people arrested in June this year for alleged links with Maoists. The searches were carried out in different parts of the country in April.

Pune Police had arrested Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut in June while probing the alleged Maoist connection to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31 last year

Mr Singh denied the charges levelled by the BJP and said that he should be arrested immediately if he has done something wrong. 

"Agar aisa hai, to mujhe sarkaar giraftar kare. Pehle deshdrohi, ab Naxali. Isiliye, yahin se giraftar mujhe karaiye (If that is true then the government should arrest me. First anti-national and now Naxal. So, arrest me immediately from here and now," he said. 

Police had arrested 5 activists in June while probing the alleged Maoist connection to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31 last year. Inflammatory speeches at the event led to violence at Koregaon Bhima near Pune next day, police had alleged.

On August 28, police arrested five more Left-wing activists: Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navalakha from different places in the country.