Digvijay's bizarre logic: Anna's fast should be preceded by agitation

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today said that anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare's decision to go on hunger strike from August 16 must be preceded by an "agitation".

"Anna's decision to go on a hunger strike was okay but it should be remembered that during the freedom struggle whenever Mahatma Gandhi staged a fast, he undertook an agitation before it," Singh told reporters here.

"Anna's team had got a draft prepared for the Lokpal Bill in the drafting committee and now the remaining work would be done by elected members of Parliament," he said.

Answering a question, the Congress general secretary said it was his "personal wish" that Rahul Gandhi should become prime minister.

Singh, in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, said that the law and order situation in that state was totally out of control and people there were not even safe in jails.

Targeting BJP leader Uma Bharti, he said, "When Uma Bharti had left BJP, she strongly criticised the party and it was now for her to say why she has returned to it."

In any case Uma is not the BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh as this post has been held by Narendra Singh Tomar who also hails from Madhya Pradesh, Singh said.

When asked about his views on the rise in prices of petroleum products and LPG, the senior Congress leader said the BJP, which was raising a hue and cry over the issue, was not doing anything to reduce entry tax and VAT which is highest in Madhya Pradesh.

On Madhya Pradesh BJP president Prabhat Jha's decision to seek permission from President Pratibha Patil for "death by wish," Singh said, "It appeared that the BJP leader had lost his mind".

"There is no provision under which the president of the country could give such a permission," he said, adding that in his view, asking for "death by wish" tantamount to committing suicide.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said that he was disappointed by the party's defeat in recently held Jabera bypoll, adding that the party would gain in future as the leaders worked unitedly for the election.

Dashrath Singh Lodhi of BJP defeated Tanya Solomon of the Congress by 11,738 votes in the recently conducted election that was necessitated by the death of her father Ratnesh Solomon.