Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday replied to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s jibe, a day after the former defence minister sarcastically thanked him for letting the Bharatiya Janata Party form the government in the state. “If he [Parrikar] has to thank anyone, it is Nitin Gadkari who did aggressive MLA shopping on March 12 from hotel in Goa,” Singh said on Twitter.

Demanding an apology, Singh reiterated that the BJP had cheated the people of Goa. “Shame on you Parrikar and your hunger for power,” he said. “You have cheated the People of Goa. Apologise to them.” Singh also accused Goa Governor Mridula Sinha of flouting rules and robbing “the mandate of people”.

Earlier, Singh had made similar allegations against the BJP. “Money power has won over people’s power,” he had said on March 13. The tussle between Parrikar and Singh has been going on for a while now. After it was announced that Parrikar would resign as defence minister to return to Goa, Singh had expressed his sympathies for the minister for what he called a demotion.

On Friday, Parrikar had hit out at the Congress during his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha. “My special thanks to honourable member Digvijaya Singh, who happened to be in Goa but did nothing so that I could form the government,” Parrikar had said.

Parrikar was sworn in as the Goa chief minister on March 14. Right after that, he also won the trust vote in the state Assembly. The trust vote was facilitated by the Supreme Court after the Congress had challenged the BJP’s claim that it had the numbers to form the government. The party had claimed that it should have been invited first to form the government in the state, since it was the single largest party. The Congress won 17 seats in the 40-member Assembly, the BJP won 13.