Cong should apologise for Tharoor's remarks, says BJP leader Kailash Vijaywargiya

The Congress should apologise for party MP Shashi Tharoor's remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shivlinga, and sack him if it found the statement derogatory, BJP leader Kailash Vijaywargiya said Monday.

Tharoor on Sunday claimed that an unnamed RSS source had told a journalist that Prime Minister Modi was like a scorpion sitting on a Shivlinga who cannot be removed by hand or hit with a chappal (slipper).

Referring to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit Monday to the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain as part of his two-day tour of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the BJP leader asked if the former would "apologise to the people of the country while standing in the Mahakal temple".

He also asked whether Gandhi believed what Tharoor had said was proper.

"Will you apologise to the people of the country while standing in the Mahakal temple? But if you really agree with Tharoor's statement, then I don't have to say anything as in that case people of the nation will come to know that you are sporting a tilak on forehead and janeu (sacred thread) to fool them," Vijaywargiya said.

"Otherwise you (Gandhi) have to throw him (Tharoor) out of the party and apologise to the nation," he said.

The BJP national general secretary claimed that Tharoor by his remarks had shown his "level".

He also lashed out at the Congress over its senior leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh "staying away" during Gandhi's visit.

While Singh tweeted that he was not present during Gandhi's visit to Indore earlier in the day as he had been assigned an important work by the Congress president, Vijaywargiya claimed that Singh had been "prevented" from attending.

"He is worried and as a face-saving measure, Singh is tweeting to inform that he is very busy. But, I feel that he was prevented from coming to the state," he said.

Earlier a video, apparently shot on October 13, showed Singh telling party workers that the votes of the Congress reduced when he campaigned for the party.

(With inputs from agencies.)