Expelled from Cong, Acharya Pramod says Pilot, Priyanka are...

A day after his expulsion from the Congress, Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday said leaders like Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are being disrespected in the party where people need 'chamchagiri' (sycophancy) to survive.

Krishnam also said he will stand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout his life to further strengthen the country.

The Congress on Saturday expelled him from the party for 'indiscipline' and making repeated statements against the party.

Krishnam, who had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow on a Congress ticket but lost, had recently praised Prime Minister Modi for the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya and criticised the Congress' stance of its leadership skipping the event.

Talking to reporters at 'Kalki Dham' in Sambhal, he said, "Today, if one wants to remain in the Congress, it requires manipulation, chamchagiri (sycophancy) and lying."

He further said, "Today Sachin Pilot is being insulted in Congress...he is swallowing poison like Lord Shiva. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also being insulted."

"(Bharat Jodo Nyay) Yatra of Rahul Gandhi is going on for several days...why is Priyanka Gandhi not joining it, ask her," he said.

In an apparent attack on Rahul Gandhi, Krishnam said, "If a person cannot respect his mother and sister, how will he respect the country? One who could not handle his legacy, how will he handle the country?"

On Saturday, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said in a statement, 'Keeping in mind the complaint of indiscipline and repeated statements against the party, the Congress President has decided to expel Pramod Krishnam from the party for six years.'

Krishnam 'thanked' the Congress for his expulsion and said, "I express my gratitude to the Congress leadership that they have issued an order to free me from the party."

However, he said, "Kharge ji (Congress chief) and Venugopal ji should tell which activities were anti-party. Are meeting PM Modi, inviting UP CM Yogi Adityanath for foundation stone laying ceremony of Shri Kalki Dham, and talking about Indian culture anti-party? These are my questions for the Congress."

Krishnam had recently met Prime Minister Modi and invited him for the foundation stone laying ceremony of 'Shri Kalki Dham'.

"I am proud that illustrious Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Kalki Dham on February 19," he said, while taking a pledge that he will 'stand with Narendra Modi' throughout his life.

Attacking the Congress, Krishnam said, "The question is not of my expulsion...but where the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Indira Gandhi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has been brought to."

He said that in a democracy it is necessary for the opposition to be strong, but the present opposition knows how to oppose only one person.

"The present opposition hates Narendra Modi so much that while hating him, it has started hating India."

He said, "I joined the Congress at the age of 17 in 1981 and I had promised Rajiv Gandhi that I would not leave the party till my last breath, I kept my promise."