Amid 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 the Amethi bid in 2024 instead of hiding behind “rights”. Ajay Rai. Asked if the Congress leader is up for the challenge, Amit Malviya also dared Rahul Gandhi to contest from a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On Monday, Congress chief Ajay Rai sparked a fresh controversy surrounding Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi, saying the Union minister only does “latke jhatke” in Amethi, while the seat remains a Gandhi family stronghold. The National Commission for Women took cognizance of the comment and issued a notice to her, while the BJP’s Mahila morcha filed a complaint against Ajay Rai in Uttar Pradesh.
Ajay Rai defended his ‘latka-jhatka’ comment and said there was no obscenity as it is a common term in the regional dialect. “I did not intend to offend anyone. Our language is colloquial and that means that suddenly someone appears, says something and then disappears,” Ajay Rai said on whether he would apologise.
Smriti Irani on Tuesday said that ‘latke jhatke’ is not a common phrase at all, but it can be a reflection of the political culture of the Congress. “Banaras, I know India. In our culture, in our civilization, it is not our culture to make decent comments on women. This may be a mirror of the political culture of the Congress, but it is neither Kashi’s culture nor such words. It is not a matter of our politics or the structure of our culture and society. they are of any description,” said Smriti Irani.
Questioning the culture of the Gandhi family, the Union minister said, “If the Gandhi family likes bad language, will the Congress leaders not apologize for using bad language? If the Gandhi family is rewarded just by making such comments. then it must be the culture of the Gandhi family. Even ordinary political workers they don’t make such comments, then why does that common Congress worker think that Sonia ji and Rahul ji would like such things.”
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi contested from Amethi and Wayanad and lost Amethi to Smriti Irani.
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