Mayawati lashes out at Kamal Nath for sexist jibe on MP Minister Imarti Devi, demands apology

NEW DELHI: Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati on Monday lashed out at Congress leader Kamal Nath for his derogatory comment on BJP leader Imarti Devi and has demanded an apology, not just from the senior Congress leader but also the top leadership of the party.

"The extremely anti-women obscene remarks made by senior Congress leader and former CM about Dalit women contesting a by-election in Dabra Reserve Assembly seat of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, are most-embarrassing and extremely condemnable. Taking cognizance of this, the Congress high command should publicly apologize," She said in a tweet.

She said that the comments made by Kamal Nath exposed the mindset of the grand-old party towards the Dalit community.

In another tweet, Mayawati appealed to voters to vote for BSP candidates in by-polls in Madhya Pradesh. "There is also an appeal to the people of the Dalit community to teach the Congress party a lesson and to prevent it from further insulting women. It will be better if you give it to BSP candidates only in all the 28 seats of the assembly which are going into by-polls," she added.

In the run-up to Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly by-polls, former chief minister Kamal Nath referred to BJP leader Imarti Devi as an "item", sparking a controversy.

"Suresh Raje ji hamare ummeedvar hai...yeh uske jaise nah hai...kya hai uska naam ... main kya uska naam lun? ...apko toh mujhe pehle savdhan karna chahiye tha ... yeh kya item hai... (Our candidate is not like her... what's her name? You know her better and should have warned me earlier... What an item!), Kamal Nath said in Hindi while the crowd called out Imarti Devi's name.

Twenty-eight assembly seats will go for by-polls in Madhya Pradesh on November 3.