New Delhi,May 13: BJP president Nitin Gadkari has courted controversy for making derogatory remarks against the Yadav troika. Speaking in Chandigarh he called Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad dogs of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Gadkari referred to the the Yadav leaders’ support to the UPA government during cut motions in Parliament.
“Woh Sonia ke talwe chatne waale kutte hain,” (Dogs who lick Sonia’s feet) said Gadkari who was referring to their volte face during the cut motions in Parliament in the second half of the Budget session in Lok Sabha.
However, Gadkari later said: “I take back my words. I just used a ‘muhavara’ (idiom)…I did not personally call them dogs….I take my words back.”
Gadkari said the two leaders and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) deserted the Opposition on the cut motions in Parliament. “In front of the TV, Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad stood with Sushma Swaraj (Leader of Opposition). All these parties stood with us but turned away later,” Gadkari said.
He also hit out at the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). “What happened during the cut motion? The BSP went and sat in the lap of the Congress,” he said.
“Someone asked me later which party is with the Congress? I said that only one party was with the congress – the Congress Bureau of Investigation,” Gadkari said taking a swipe at the Congress for allegedly using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against political leaders.
“Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad bowed before the CBI. In their inquiry, somewhere the lawyer was changed while somewhere the affidavit was changed,” the BJP president claimed.
Reacting to Gadkari’s remarks, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said he does not want to respond to the remarks of a novice politician of low stature. “Gadkari’s remarks do not deserve any response,” Tewari said.
Addressing a felicitation function held in his honour by the party, Gadkari directed a poser at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him where Rs 445 crore which came through future forward trading had gone.
“This money has been pocketed by MNCs, speculators and manipulators,” he said. Charging the UPA with failure to fulfill even a single pre-poll promise, he held its “wrong policies” responsible for rising inflation, unemployment, poverty and suicide by farmers.
“Barring a member of Gandhi family no one can ever dream to become head of the Congress party,” he said.