Dismissing as frivolous Opposition's charge that Pranab Mukherjee's resignation letter to Indian Statistical Institute was fabricated, Congress today asked it not to undermine the dignity of the presidential poll by indulging in such "tricks".
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is the authorised representative of Mukherjee, said the objections raised by the camp of PA Sangma were "frivolous, scandalous and legally untenable".
"When you realise that winning the election is absolutely impossible, then you deploy such tricks. The Opposition nominee (PA Sangma) and the parties supporting his candidature should seriously ponder.
"This is not an election for student bodies in schools and colleges but Presidential poll and should be fought with the dignity attached with it," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
He also dismissed BJP's threat to file an election petition against Mukherjee's nomination saying that the "issue stands settled" as the Returning Officer (Rajya Sabha Secretary General) has already dealt with it.
"The RO found the nomination (of Mukherjee) totally valid and that ends the matter," Tewari said.
In Thiruvanthapuram, Mukherjee himself made light of the claim of Sangma that his signatures were forged in the resignation letter sent to the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
"How can somebody lodge a complaint that you forged your own signature?," he said countering the fresh offensive of the BJP on the issue and its threat that it was considering legal options.
