Kota: Veteran Rajasthan Congress leader and MLA CL Premi on Sunday praised Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP leader Om Birla saying “there seems to be no option” for the two-time MP for him “to be elected for the third time” thereby leaving the Congress red-faced. Premi was speaking at a program on Sunday where Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was also present at the stage.
Referring to Birla, Rajasthan Congress MLA CL Premi said, “The person who visits you may not have any work, but he returns happy with your personality. You have been the MP for two terms now. There seems to be no option for him for the third term,” Premi said to a huge laughter and applause from the audience and a smile from the Lok Sabha Speaker sitting on the stage.
Premi is an MLA from Keshoraipatan assembly in Bundi district of Rajasthan while Birla is the MP from Kota-Bundi segment since 2014. “You are from BJP and I am from Congress, but this is the reality. Birla's feedback is such that whether people have work or not, the person who goes home is respected. He returns only after praising him (Birla). Not every leader has such qualities,” Premi said of Birla.
The Congress MLA also praised the state's Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Premchand Bairwa. While taking a dig at his own party the Congress, Premi said that the BJP had elevated a leader of the Bairwa community “at an early age” saying that the Congress had made Banwari Lal Bairava the Deputy CM “at the last moment”.
“I have honestly utilized the post of MLA. Even a person of general category cannot speak ill of me. I respect every person. I am the only Congress MLA from Bairava community. When I was an MLA in 2008, Congress had 6-7 MLAs from Bairava community. Today it was the opposite. I am the only MLA from Bairava community in Congress, whereas this number is more in BJP,” he said.
The Congress MLA lavishing praise on the BJP leaders and the party itself has led to speculations whether he is offering an olive branch to the saffron party to secure a political future for himself in coming years.
