New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday termed former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's outburst against Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as one out of anger and hoped he would reconsider his words as they do not suit his stature.
The party also refused to comment on whether Singh would leave the party after his "unceremonious" exit as the chief minister of Punjab, and said "if someone wants to leave, we have no comment to offer".
Singh had on Wednesday called Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra "inexperienced" and also threatened to pit a strong candidate against Punjab party unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in the coming assembly polls.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said Amarinder Singh is an elder and may have stated things out of anger.
"He is our elder and the elderly often get angry and say a lot of things. We respect his anger, age and experience. We hope he does reconsider his words. But, there is no space in politics for anger, envy, enmity, vendetta and personal attacks and comments against political opponents," she told reporters.
"We hope that he will rethink on his own words while showing prudence, as he has remained a stalwart of the Congress party, which made him the chief minister for nine years and nine months," Shrinate added.
Meanwhile, Singh on Thursday appeared to take on his own party and asked if there was space for "humiliation and insult" in the Congress.
"Yes, there's no space for anger in politics. But is there space for humiliation and insult in a grand old party like Congress? If a senior party leader like me can be treated like this, I wonder what the workers must go through!," Singh was quoted as saying in a tweet by his former media adviser Raveen Thukral.
In no-holds-barred remarks, Singh had on Wednesday called Sidhu a "drama master" and a "dangerous man", accusing him of behaving like a "super CM" with the newly-appointed chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi "simply nodding along".
He also claimed that Punjab is now being run by the party from Delhi, according to a press statement issued by an aide who summed up his interactions with the media.
Singh resigned as Punjab's chief minister on Saturday, after being locked in a bitter leadership fight with Sidhu for months.
He submitted his resignation just ahead of the Congress Legislature Party meeting, which he said was called in a "secretive" manner.
Shrinate further said the party has an ideology and is fighting an ideological battle and will continue to stand with those who are standing with it in this battle.
"But I would not like to comment on those who want to leave the party," she said.
The Congress leader recalled how Singh was made the chief minister instead of Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
"I feel that considering his experience and public life, such talk does not suit his stature and thus, he will rethink on his words. We being younger to him, will try to forget his sudden anger. But such words of enmity, envy and anger and vendetta have no place in politics for either one's own partymen or political opponents," she underlined.
Shrinate added that people take decisions in politics, "some in their own interest, some in the interest of their constituency", but these are individual decisions to leave or join a party.
"I do not want to say anything on this from this platform," she said.
