In a surprising statement, state Higher Education Minister Kalicharan Saraf on Tuesday said that the state Congress President Sachin pilot is “free these days” so he attended the funeral of soldier Nimb Singh.
Since Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had her schedule pre-decided, she sent a senior minister to Rajsamand to attend the funeral.
“Pilot is free these days so he went. But the state government is also sensitive. The chief minister had her programme so she sent senior minister Kiran Maheshwari to Rajsamand,” Kalicharan told reporters when pointed out that Pilot was present at the funeral and the chief minister was not.
“It is not they (Congress) who will decide what the government will do. We have many things to do in the government and the government was represented there,” he said at the BJP office.
On Tuesday, social media was abuzz with conversation on how several BJP leaders including had failed to attend the funerals of soldiers, killed in Uri attacks.
Raje wasn’t the only BJP face receiving flak for not attending. Elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, party MP faced the anger of her constituents as residents of Jhandipur village in Mathura delayed the funeral procession of Army jawan Bablu Singh, who was killed while thwarting an infiltration bid in Kashmir, protesting the failure of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and local MP Hema Malini to attend the last rites.
Irate locals also raised slogans against the government and Hema Malini while delaying the last rites of the jawan for about four hours.
(With PTI inputs)