Respect women: Sunanda Pushkar to Narendra Modi

Two days after Narendra Modi made a disparaging remark about her at a poll rally, Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar on Wednesday said the Gujarat CM should respect women and not stoop to such levels. HT reports.Cong, BJP fight it out over Modi comment

Two days after Narendra Modi made a disparaging remark about her at a poll rally, Union minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar Wednesday said the Gujarat CM should respect women and not stoop to such levels.

But the controversy created by Modi's remarks refuses to go away, with the BJP keeping up the personal attack against Tharoor, who was Sunday named minister of state for HRD.

It said Wednesday that "love guru" Tharoor should be made "minister of love affairs".

In her first response to Modi's jibe, Pushkar told NDTV and CNN-IBN she didn't expect an apology from the Gujarat CM.

"I have nothing to say to Narendra Modi. A man who has not apologised for killings of innocent Gujarati..., how would I expect apology from him?"

"In a country of such great women like Sonia Gandhi, Meira Kumar you have to have some respect for women," PTI quoter Pushkar as saying.

Modi had Monday referred to Pushkar as Tharoor's " Rs. 50-crore girlfriend". His wife was priceless, Tharoor tweeted, adding "you need to be able to love someone to understand that".

Reacting to the tweet, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "I'm very much impressed by his answer... I think a ministry of love affairs should be made for such an international love guru so that the nation can gain from his wisdom."