After Uttarakhand CM, BJP chief apologizes to Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh on Twitter

DEHRADUN: After Uttarakhand Chief Minister apologized to Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Indira Hridayesh, BJP state president also took to Twitter to 'respectfully take his statement back'.

Bhartiya Janta Party state president Bansidhar Bhagat wrote on Twitter, "Indira Hridayesh ji is a respected leader of the state and verbal exchanges are natural due to electoral territory being the same. I did not intend to hurt her personally, if she is hurt I take my statement respectfully."

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also went public in apologizing to Hridayesh after Bhagat's statement in which he called her 'Budhiya' (old lady) and 'Doobta Jahaz' (Sinking Ship) recieved backlash.

Rawat tweeted at around 1 am in the morning on Wednesday saying that he is 'very sad' to hear about the remarks made against the 80-year-old Leader of Opposition and will personally call her too to seek further apology personally. 

"Respected Indira Hridayesh ji, I am sad beyond anything today. Women are highly respectable to us. I personally apologise to you and all others who are saddened by this like me. I will speak to you personally and offer my humble apologies again," tweeted the CM. 

"Humari neta-pratipaksha keh rahi bahut se vidhayak humare sampark me hain. Are budhiya! tujhse kyun sampark karenge? Doobte jahaz se koi sampark karega? (Our Leader of Opposition says that several MLAs are in touch with us. Why would they contact you old woman? What would one want to do with a sinking ship?)," the BJP president had remarked. 

Retorting to this, Hridayesh said that she was hurt with the kind of language used by the BJP state president and demanded that the ruling party’s national leadership takes cognizance of the incident.

“Such language, then it is an insult to the motherhood which the women of our hills will never forgive. I don’t use such unparliamentary language so can't stoop to his level. I urge the BJP  national leadership to take notice of this and seek explanation from him. Raising the slogan of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, these people should at least be mindful of their language," said Hridayesh. 

Following the incident Congress party workers launched protests across the state burning effigies and demanding removal of Bhagat.