A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him happy Diwali and Congress leader Sam Pitroda returned the gesture, the Overseas Congress chief has reiterated that he respected the Prime Minister as a “fellow Gujarati” and that their differences were political, not personal.
Amid all the political sparring, the bonhomie between the Prime Minister and Sam Pitroda, and the mutual praise, became a topic of discussion and speculation.
He has lost his mind; he should be ashamed. The Prime Minister on Thursday wished Pitroda on the occasion of Diwali and Gujarati New Year. “I have known Narendra-bhai for a long time – even before he became Prime Minister. I have visited his home. Sam Pitroda has long been in the BJP’s line of fire, which has accused the Congress of colluding with foreign forces to harm the country. Pitroda is also instrumental in Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s foreign visits, which have also evoked strong attacks from the BJP. This week too the BJP attacked Pitroda and the Congress over the recent protests and repeated the foreign collusion charge. Pitroda vehemently rejected the charge, calling it baseless. Amid all this political sparring, the bonhomie between the Prime Minister and Pitroda, and the mutual praise, became a topic of discussion and speculation. He also strongly rejected Congress leader Hussain Dalwai’s suggestion that praise for the PM may mean that he was planning to switch sides.
We share a connection as fellow Gujaratis,” Pitroda told NDTV in an exclusive chat a day after the exchange of wishes triggered a political debate. The Congress leader had also come under BJP’s fire over his comment on the 1984 Sikh riots when he said “why must we discuss something that happened 40 years ago?”. The surprise wish came after Pitroda called the PM his “Gujarati friend” and said he had no issues with him at an individual level. I will never leave the Congress,” Pitroda said.
