File photo of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said he felt "very sad" at his step-brother Daljit Singh Kohli joining the BJP even as his family literally got divided between the opposition party and the Congress, with another step-brother joining the Congress road show of party candidate Amarinder Singh in Amritsar on Saturday. (
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's step-brother joins BJP)
Dr Singh said he felt "very sad" at his younger step-brother joining the BJP.
Speaking to reporters on the side-lines of the Padma awards function in New Delhi, he said to a query, "I feel very sad. But I have no control over what others do. They are adults."
In Amritsar, just a day after the BJP embarrassed the Congress and Dr Singh by inducting Daljit, another step-brother, Surjit Singh Kohli, an entrepreneur, joined the Congress road show with Amarinder, who is contesting the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat against senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley. (Also Read:
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Mr Kohli had joined the BJP and shared the dais with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during an election rally on Friday evening.
"Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother Daljit Singh has joined the BJP. This will further strengthen us. We are not a membership party. We form blood relations," Mr Modi had said in Amritsar while welcoming Mr Kohli into the BJP fold with a warm hug on the dais.
Mr Kohli's entry into the BJP fold was played up by the BJP leadership, especially by Mr Jaitley, who is facing a tough fight against Mr Singh, a former chief minister. (Also Read:
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Mr Kohli, a textile exporter with no political background, had told the media that he joined the BJP as he was upset about the way Dr Singh was treated by the Congress.
Reacting to allegations by a certain section of the Congress, that he had a 'deal with the BJP', Mr Kohli had said that it was a deal for development.
The prime minister's family members had on Friday expressed shock at Mr Kohli's "extremely wrong" and "shameful" decision to join the BJP. (
PM's family condemns his step-brother's decision to join BJP)
His nephew Mandeep Singh told reporters in Amritsar on Friday, "The whole family is shocked to learn of Daljitji's decision. We have been associated with the Congress from the very beginning and will remain faithful to them always. What he has done is extremely wrong. This is shameful and should not have been done."
Hitting out at the BJP for showcasing its new recruit, Mr Kohli, the Congress said it did not go overboard when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece quit the BJP and joined its fold.
"I don't think this is something you need to hawk politically. But since the BJP is trying to hawk it politically, let me say that we didn't go to town when Vajpayee's niece joined us," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters. (Also Read:
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"Vajpayee's niece was much more in active politics, and was a sitting MLA," Singhvi said about Karuna Shukla.
Ms Shukla ended her 32-year-long association with the BJP last year and joined the Congress in February, slamming Mr Modi and alleging that a "special group" now occupied the BJP with the end of the Vajpayee era.
In a barb at the functioning of the Prime Minister's Office when Mr Vajpayee was the prime minister (1998-2004), Mr Singhvi said Dr Singh had always kept relatives at a "bargepole distance".
"As far as we know, the prime minister of this country has been exemplary -- and let me be very clear, totally unlike the previous PMO, that is the PMO of 1999-2004 -- in keeping every relative at a bargepole distance," he said.