Slapped with an FIR and served with a notice by the National Women's Commission (NCW) for his 'latke-jhatke' remark on union minister Smriti Irani, senior Congress leader Ajay Rai on Tuesday refused to apologise and said that the remark was not 'unparliamentary' and also that he had used it in a different context.
Rai, who was also the president of Prayagraj division of the UP Congress, said that the words (latke-jhatke) was of common usage in the region and that there was no need for him to apologise for the same.
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He said that he kept visiting Amethi from where Smriti Irani was the Lok Sabha members, regularly and had found that the constituency was in ''bad shape''. ''No new factory has been set up in Amethi during the BJP regime....many industrial units have closed,'' Rai said.
Rai also said that the roads were in very bad shape in Amethi and the MP of the constituency was nowhere to be seen. ''I had said that new industrial projects for Amethi were hanging fire (latke) and the people were experiencing jolts (jhatke) on the roads,'' the Congress leader said claiming that he had made the remarks in a different context but some people had 'twisted' it.
An FIR was lodged against Rai over the remark in UP while the NCW had also sent him a notice over the same.
Irani also took potshots at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who had lost the Amethi seat to her in 2019 general elections, and dared the latter to contest from there in 2024 LS polls.
''I have heard that you (Rahul) had made a regional leader (Rai) to announce your candidature from Amethi in 2024.....is it final or you (Rahul) will again contest from some other seat?......Rahul and his mother a script writer,'' Irani said in a Tweet.