Digvijay Singh takes potshots at Gadkari for mocking political opponents

Agra: Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari for making fun of political opponents, and said that this exemplified the kinds of politicians in the main opposition.

"Gadkari hails from Maharashtra, so, he does not speak good Hindi. He keeps uttering something. He does not have control over what he says. These are the kind of people that Bharatiya Janata Party deserves," Digvijay Singh told mediapersons on the sidelines of an event in Uttar Pradesh's Agra city.

Meanwhile, another Congress leader Rajiv Shukla echoing similar sentiments advised Gadkari to act in accordance to his position as leader of a national party.

"I would like to urge Gadkari that he is the chief of a national party. He is no longer a regional leader, thus use of such words does not suit him. Moreover, your party has always claimed that they are high on character, behaviour and moral values," said Shukla.

Gadkari had earlier on Wednesday accused the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party of being "hand-in-glove" over the issues of corruption and vote bank politics.

Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad, Gadkari said: "Both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have promised reservation for religious minorities in their election manifestos. We would like to know how are they going to do that when the Supreme Court has made it clear that reservation cannot exceed 50 percent."

"All these parties appear to be hand-in-glove," he added.

The campaigning in 59 assembly constituencies spread over nine districts of eastern region of Uttar Pradesh from Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Varanasi divisions came to an end today.

Polling in these constituencies will be held on Saturday. A total of 1,099 candidates are in the fray for this phase.

Over 62 percent voting was registered in the first phase of assembly elections for the 55 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

The polls in Uttar Pradesh are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

Polls in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted between February 8 and March 3. The counting of votes will take place on March 6.

The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)