Goa awaits 'political entertainment' in Digvijay Singh

Panaji, June 17: The appointment of the controversy-prone Congressman Digvijay Singh as general secretary of three states, including Goa, has already sparked off banter in the virtual and political circles here.

In a reshuffle of party posts Sunday, Digvijaya Singh was appointed Congress in-charge of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa and the one quarter which appears most invigorated by his new brief is the chatterati on the social media.

The general drift which one senses from a series of comments is that Facebookers are hoping that Congress's most prolific spin-doctor will leave a luminescent trail of controversies in Goa too.

Digvijay Singh, 66, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, has in the past spun many a mini-tornado in the media. On one occasion, he referred to the slain Al-Queda terror mastermind Osama bin Laden as "Osamaji". He also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of being part of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, with the opposition called his charges outlandish and bizarre.

"Goa will be entertained to item-numbers whether you solicit them or not," Dattesh Parulekar, an assistant professor at the Goa University, said in his Facebook post.

Amruth Joshi said that the Congress leader, who has equated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with Hitler, and propped up Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for prime minister, and described Manmohan Singh as a "fairly good prime minister" in 2011, would provide "good entertainment".

"I guess he would be a source of inspiration for the local leaders and a source of entertainment for the locals," Joshi said.

While the Congress is in power in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, in tiny Goa, in contrast, the key leadership of the party appears to have simply vanished after the thumping defeat in the 2012 polls.

The Congress's crippling defeat came on the watch of Congress general secretary Jagmeet Singh Brar and secretary in-charge of Goa Sudhakar Reddy.

Congress spokesperson Sudip Tamhankar believes that Digvijaya Singh's advent on the Goa scene will help energise the party's spirits.

"He is of those few national leaders, who have been able to give a fitting reply to the BJP's accusations against the central government. His unique style is very effective," Tamhankar said.

As for the Bharatiya Janata Party, its Goa vice president Wilfred Mesquita said his party was only waiting to see how "loud-mouthed" he was going to be.

"Digvijay Singh is known to be loud-mouthed. We hope, when he comes to Goa, he opens his mouth very wide," Mesquita told IANS.

IANS