Cong celebrating loss of its security deposit in UP bypolls: Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh took a swipe at the Congress today, saying it was perhaps for the first time in the world that a political party was dancing and singing at the outcome of an election, unmindful of the fact that its candidates had lost their security deposits.

Singh, a senior BJP leader, was referring to the recent bypolls to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP lost both the seats to the Samajwadi Party.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Jammu Central University's convocation, where he was conferred an honorary doctorate, Singh said for the Congress, it seemed it was no longer important to win polls as the party derived greater pleasure if the BJP lost an election.

Can the Indian nation live with such a political party, which has such a pervert mindset? he asked.

Singh said the Congress, under its president Rahul Gandhi, had lost the plot and out of confusion, it had resorted to the "pervert practice" of celebrating the loss of its security deposits.

Taking a dig at Gandhi, he wanted to know why did the Congress not find fault with electronic voting machines (EVMs) when it was in government for 10 years.

"What they say now is a tacit admission of their eminent defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election," the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

In response to a query about the opposition trying to project the 2019 polls as "Modi versus All", he said the BJP took it as a compliment.

Let someone remind Rahul Gandhi that in the early 1970s, the opposition had made a similar reference to his grandmother by describing it (the election) as Indira Gandhi vs All', Singh said.

About civilians being targeted by Pakistan during cross-border firing, the Union minister said it was not only a violation of all the diplomatic norms in a warfare situation, but was also the reflection of the Pakistan Army's frustration due to heavy casualties suffered by it as a result of retaliatory action from the Indian side.

Earlier, after being conferred the honorary doctorate, Singh said he was accepting it with all the humility as a token of love, affection and recognition from Jammu, a region he had served for the better part of his life with all the diligence and commitment at his command.