E-Paper
Why will Rahul Gandhi give flying kiss to 'budhiya': Row over Congress MLA's statement
Rahul Gandhi has no dearth of young women, Bihar Congress MLA Neetu Singh said on the flying kiss row.
On Rahul Gandhi's apparent flying kiss inside the Lok Sabha, a fresh row has begun as Neetu Singh, a Congress MLA from Bihar, asked why Rahul Gandhi will give a flying kiss to a 50-year-old woman. "Our Rahul Gandhi does not have any dearth of women. If he had to give a flying kiss, he would have given it to a younger woman. Why will he give a flying kiss to an old woman? All these allegations are baseless," Neetu Singh said in a video now going viral as BJP leaders objected to Neetu Singh's statement.
"Anti-women Congress can even defend Rahul’s misdemeanours inside the House," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said sharing the video.
What is Rahul Gandhi flying kiss controversy?
On Wednesday, Union minister Smriti Irani in the middle of her statement on the motion of no confidence raised objection to Rahul Gandhi's gesture and said only a misogynist can give flying kiss to women parliamentarians. A total of 20 women parliamentarians, all from the BJP, signed a complaint which was submitted to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.
BJP leaders shared the CCTV footage of the action but it was not established whether Rahul Gandhi indeed blew a flying kiss inside the House. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said it was an affectionate gesture and not aimed at women parliamentarians only.
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra took a jibe at Smriti Irani and asked why she was silent on Brij Bhushan. "When a BJP MP was accused of harassment and molestation by our champion wrestlers, we did not hear one word out of the women and child development minister and now she is talking about some flying kiss, where are your priorities, madam."
"Union WCD minister is very angry. But, I cannot understand where that anger goes away when, just two rows (in Parliament) behind her, a person called Brij Bhushan Singh sits," Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said.
