Congress demands BJP leaders’ apology for ‘insulting’ Manmohan

Vijayawada: Takin strong exception to the way former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was cremated in Delhi, former Union minister Chinta Mohan demanded an apology from the BJP leaders for cremating the great leader at a place where the beggars and orphans were cremated. They should have allotted half an acre land in Delhi to build a memorial for the statesman who took India to greater heights with his economic policies, he demanded.

Referring to the reforms Manmohan Singh introduced, he said that midday meal for 15 crore students and 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in jobs and educational institutions were made possible by him.

Chinta Mohan recalled that when he told Manmohan when he was finance minister and Rajya Sabha member that he would become prime minister one day, he laughed it off.

In 2004, Sonia Gandhi sought support of Harikishan Singh Surjeet for forming the UPA govern-ment and proposed two names — Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh. Mohan said that he was instrumental in making Manmohan Singh prime minister.

The former Union minister lambasted home minister Amit Shah for making humiliating re-marks against Babasaheb Ambedkar.