New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party is cornering Congress over a statement given by Digvijaya Singh during a Clubhouse chat wherein the veteran leader talked about the issue of Article 370.


BJP is attacking Digvijaya Singh for saying that the Congress party would have a "relook" at the abrogation of Article 370 if voted to power at the centre.


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BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya shared the audio clip where Digvijaya Singh can be hear saying: "Democracy was not there in Kashmir when they revoked Article 370. Then Insaaniyat was not there because they put everyone behind bars and Kashmiriyat is something which is basically the fundamental of secularism because in a Muslim majority state, there was a Hindu Raja and both worked together. In fact, the reservation in Kashmir was given to the Kashmiri pandits in the government services".


"Therefore the decision of revoking article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely I would say a sad decision and the Congress party would certainly like to have a relook at this issue," Digvijaya Singh added.


 


BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra levelled several allegations at the opposition party, terming Congress as a "clubhouse of Anti-nationals".



Addressing a press conference on the matter, BJP leader Sambit Patra asked: "What do Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi think about Digvijaya's Clubhouse statement? Is this Congress’ stand too?" "We demand Rahul Gandhi to hold a press conference and clarify," he added. 


Earlier in the day, Digvijaya Singh responded to the allegations by tweeting: "Maybe this group of illiterate individuals doesn't understand the difference between Shall and Consider".


The issue of Article 370 has been a controversial one. While BJP fulfilled its 2019 poll promise by revoking its implementation, Congress in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha election had committed to not change the status in this regard.


Regional parties in the union territory continue to demand that Article 370 be implemented again and also that Jammu and Kashmir be given back its statehood. National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah welcomed the statement saying: "I'm very grateful to Digvijaya Singh Ji. He has realized the sentiments of people as other parties who have also spoken about it. I welcome it heartily and hope govt will look into it again".



Whether or not will this controversy escalate and how will other senior Congress leaders respond to it - remains to be seen.