Sibal snaps Digvijay: Congress divided over 'foreign interference'

A day after Congress leader Digvijaya Singh thanked Germany for taking note of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday said that "we don't need endorsements from abroad" as "our fight is our own".

Disagreeing with Singh, Sibal, who quit the Congress last year, also asserted that "we don't need crutches to walk ahead". Singh had thanked the German foreign ministry and Richard Walker, Chief International Editor of Deutsche Welle for "taking note of how Democracy is being compromised in India through the persecution of Rahul Gandhi".

He also tagged a tweet and a video posted by Walker on the German foreign ministry reaction to Gandhi's disqualification.

In a tweet, Sibal said, "Digvijaya Singh:Thanked Berlin for 'taking note of how democracy is being compromised in India'. My thought: We don't need crutches to walk ahead. We don't need endorsements from abroad." "Our fight is our own and in that we are together," Sibal asserted.

Sibal, who was a Union minister during the UPA 1 and 2 regimes, quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an independent member with the Samajwadi Party's support. Sibal recently floated a non-electoral platform 'Insaaf' aimed at fighting the alleged injustice prevailing in the country.

The BJP on Thursday had seized on Singh's remarks thanking Germany to accuse the Congress of "inviting foreign powers for interference into India's internal matters".

Following Singh's remarks and the BJP's attack, the Congress said it firmly believes that India's democratic processes themselves have to deal with the threats posed to its democracy. It also hit out at the BJP, accusing it of attempting to divert attention from the Adani issue. Without taking names, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said on Twitter, "@INCIndia firmly believes that India's democratic processes themselves have to deal with the threats posed to our democracy by Mr. Modi's 'assault' on our institutions & his politics of vendetta, intimidation, threats & harassment."