BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut from Mandi constituency during an election campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, in Mandi, on Tuesday.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mandi/Shimla: Actor Kangana Ranaut, the BJP's candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat, on Tuesday said that "new faces" should be given a chance over people from traditional political families.
Addressing BJP workers' meeting at Shivabadar in Drang assembly segment and Nerchowk in Balh assembly segment, Ranaut said that Congress was panicking due to BJP's decision to field new candidates.
"It is time to give chances to new faces instead of people from traditional political families," she said in an indirect attack directed at Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh, who is the sitting MP from Mandi.
Singh, who is the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and the mother of Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, had earlier refused to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
After Ranaut's name was announced by the BJP, however, Singh softened her stand and said that she will follow the directions of the Congress high command.
Singh is considered to be the frontrunner for a Congress ticket from Mandi.
Ranaut, who was accompanied by former Himachal Pradesh minister Suresh Bhardwaj and in-charge of Mandi parliamentary constituency Govind Thakur, said that she joined politics with the intention of serving people.
"The prime minister is 'Pradhan Sevak' and serving the nation and I will serve the public of Mandi parliamentary constituency with the same spirit," she added.
Referring to an allegedly derogatory social media posts by Congress leaders, she said it reflects the party's 'sick mentality about women'.
Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate and H S Ahir have kicked up a huge political row with allegedly derogatory comments on Ranaut. Shrinate said many people have access to her social media accounts and one of them made the inappropriate post.
It is due to the historic decision of the BJP government headed by PM Modi to pass the women's reservation law that a girl hailing from a small village has been given the ticket to contest the parliamentary polls.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Act-2023 provides 33 per cent reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.