Deflecting heat from Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh questions state BJP's silence on Hathras incident

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], Aug 10 (ANI): After the row over the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's derogatory comment on a female BJP leader, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said he doesn't understand the reason for the BJP's drama when no state BJP leader has said anything about the Hathras incident.
"I don't know in what context Kamal Nath Ji's said the word. I also don't know the requirement behind the 'natak' 'nautanki' (drama) BJP is doing today... No one from Madhya Pradesh's BJP said anything on Hathras incident," he said.
He also attacked former colleague and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Singh said both leaders did not utter a word about the Hathras incident.
"Some 200-250 kilometres away from Gwalior is a place called Hathras in UP, where a Dalit girl was not just raped, but the police of BJP government in the state did not even give her dead body to her Dalit family for cremation. Why was BJP silent then? Why Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Scindia kept quiet on the incident?" he asked.
In the run-up to Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly bypolls, former chief minister Kamal Nath referred to BJP leader Imarti Devi as an "item", sparking a controversy.
"Suresh Raje ji hamare ummeedvar hai...yeh uske jaise nah hai...kya hai uska naam ... main kya uska naam lun? ...apko toh mujhe pehle savdhan karna chahiye tha ... yeh kya item hai... (Our candidate is not like her... what's her name? You know her better and should have warned me earlier... What an item!), Kamal Nath said in Hindi while the crowd called out Imarti Devi's name.
The former chief minister was addressing a campaign rally in Dabra for Congress candidate Suresh Raje. Imarti Devi is also contesting on the BJP ticket from Dabra.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP leader Smriti Irani had strongly criticised Nath's statement on Imarti Devi. (ANI)