'Digvijay is now interested in buying and selling of burqas': BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday took a jibe at Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh after he alleged that 10,000 burqas were purchased from Indore ahead of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Madhya Pradesh, and said that the saffron outfit does not require distributing burqas or caps to ensure that people turn up for its rallies and programmes.

"We knew Digvijay Singhji as a leader of the Congress Party, but for the first time we are seeing him as a leader who is interested in the buying and selling of burqas. He keeps a track as to how many burqas and caps are purchased where. So, I think he will not gain from this kind of a politics," said Naqvi.

"As far as the Bharatiya Janata Party is concerned, it does not require distributing burqas or caps to ensure that people turn up for its rallies and programmes," he added.

Digvijay Singh earlier in the day alleged that 10,000 burqas were purchased in Indore to feign the support of the Muslim minority for the BJP.

"In the entire country, it is being built up that the Bharatiya Janata Party has the support of the Muslim minority. ...Now, as proof, I have with me a bill which shows that 10,000 burqas have been bought from Indore. The same number of topis could not be found here, but were ordered from Lucknow. I will put that bill before you, as well," he said in Indore.

Modi, who is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, will speak at the Karyakarta Mahakumbh in Bhopal tomorrow as part of his party's election campaign in the lead-up to the 2014 general elections.

Digvijay Singh had earlier on Sunday lashed out at Modi, and said the facts that he presented at speech to the Indian Diaspora in America indicated that it was 'feku' at his best.

"FEKU MODI at his best. Giving fake figures of growth during NDA regime," Digvijay Singh said on the microblogging site Twitter.

Praising the six-year tenure of NDA under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party's veteran leader LK Advani, Modi had earlier said, "Under Vajpayee government it looked like that the 21st century would be the century of India. But with his departure, the downfall started."

He said that the growth rate was 8.4 per cent but it came down to 4.8 per cent during the UPA's rule.

"However, once Vajpayee's tenure as PM came to an end, we regressed and are moving backwards," he said, while addressing the Indian Diaspora through a live video conference.