Amid row over Congress leader Ajay Rai’s ‘latke Jhatke’ comment on Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP’s Amit Malviya on Tuesday said if Rahul Gandhi is man enough, then he should openly announce his bid for Amethi in 2024 instead of hiding behind “minions” like Ajay Rai. Asking whether the Congress leader is up for the challenge, Amit Malviya also dared Rahul Gandhi to contest from just one seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On Monday, Congress leader Ajay Rai stirred up a fresh controversy involving Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi as he said the Union minister does only ‘latke jhatke’ in Amethi and goes away while the seat has remained the Gandhi family bastion. The National Commission for Women took note of the comment and sent a notice to him, while a police complaint was filed against Ajay Rai in Uttar Pradesh by BJP’s Mahila morcha.
Ajay Rai defended his ‘latka-jhatka’ comment and said there was no obscenity as it is a common term in the regional dialect. “I didn’t intend to insult anyone. It’s our colloquial language which means that somebody suddenly appears, says something and then disappears,” Ajay Rai said on whether he would apologise.
Smriti Irani on Tuesday said ‘latke jhatke’ is not at all a common phrase but may be a mirror of Congress’s political culture. “I know Banaras, India. In our culture, in our civilization, it is not a matter of our culture to make indecent comments towards women. This may be a mirror of Congress’s political culture, but it is neither Kashi’s culture nor such words that are any description of our politics or cultural and social makeup,” Smriti Irani said.
Questioning the culture of the Gandhi family, the Union minister said, “If the Gandhi family likes foul language then Congress leaders won’t apologize for using such a foul language? If they are being rewarded by the Gandhi family only by making such comments, then must be the culture of the Gandhi family. Even ordinary political workers don’t make such comments, then why is it that ordinary Congress worker thinks that Sonia ji and Rahul ji would like such things.”
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi contested from both Amethi and Wayanad and lost Amethi to Smriti Irani.
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