Former Goa chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar has reportedly compared Leader of the Opposition LK Advani to rancid pickle.
On Monday, Konkani TV channel Prudent Media quoted Parrikar, who was chief minister of Goa between 2000 and 2005, as saying that Advani was ageing like spoilt pickle.
“At present Advani ji’s innings have matured. It’s like Sachin Tendulkar. However mature an innings you may play, sometime you will have to stop playing. It’s like a pickle that takes about a year to mature. But if it is kept for one year, or say two years, it turns piddyar (Konkani for rancid)….” Parrikar said in the television interview.
He added that the time for Advani was up: “Advani ji’s period is more or less over. Another couple of years more, maybe. Afterwards, he should be there like a guardian or mentor for the party.”
But on Tuesday, Parrikar told Hindustan Times that the channel had misquoted him.
“I just said Advani ji is my favourite leader, and that Advani and Vajpayee are like two wheels of a chariot,” he said. “I had said in the interview that Tendulkar’s cricket is maturing like pickle. It was later that I mentioned Advani ji, but there was no connection between the Tendulkar and pickle remarks.”
Parrikar denied his alleged comment on the longevity of Advani’s career, too. “I said he should stay in politics like a mentor, and this has surprisingly been misinterpreted as a negative remark.”.
{{/usCountry}}Parrikar denied his alleged comment on the longevity of Advani’s career, too. “I said he should stay in politics like a mentor, and this has surprisingly been misinterpreted as a negative remark.”.
{{/usCountry}}Hindustan Times could not independently verify Parrikar’s claims.
After Parrikar’s reported swipe, the BJP, too, had to go into denial mode, again.
Following a series of statements critical of the party leadership by Jaswant Singh, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, they had to defend the alleged disparaging statement against Advani.
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy insisted Parrikar had been misquoted. “He just said Advani ji was his leader and the mentor of the party,” Rudy said.
“The TV channel’s report is totally unacceptable.”