Modi no Rambo, he is 'feku', says Digvijaya Singh

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said Wednesday that Gujarat Chief Minister was no "Rambo" but a "feku" (pretentious) and called Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrkar a fascist.

Digvijaya Singh, who was recently appointed the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of the party's affairs in Goa, was speaking to reporters after addressing a meeting of key party officials during his first visit to the state.

"Rambo is not the right name for him. He is a feku," Digvijaya Singh said when asked if the Congress was worried about the Gujarat chief minister's appointment as the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) face for the 2014 polls.

Modi has been referred to as "Rambo" by a section of the media which said that he "rescued" 15,000 Gujaratis from disaster-hit Uttarakhand in a day a la Rambo.

Digvijaya Singh said that Modi had been lying constantly about the progress made by Gujarat, and insisted that most of Modi's claims were false.

"Out of all those MoU (memorandums of understanding) which were signed by the Gujarat government with industries as part of the 'Vibrant Gujarat' campaign, barely 10 per cent have come through," Digvijaya Singh said.

The Congress general secretary also said that the Gujarat government did not rank among the top three Indian states when it came to either social or economic indices.

Modi's prowess, he said, was only a hype created by the media.

"Modi is a factor for the media. He is not even a factor for us," Singh said, chiding the media about being obsessed with the "Modi factor".

Commenting on the BJP-led Goa government and Parrikar's governance, Digvijaya Singh said the latter was showing fascist tendencies already after a year in power.

"The way he is trampling on democratic process shows that he is a fascist... The chief minister belongs to a party which is fascist and dictatorial," Singh said.

Digvijaya Singh also said that the Gujarat government had paid Rs.300 crore to APCO Worldwide, a public relations firm, to promote Modi's image. The firm, he said, had several dictators and fascists on its payroll.