UP Congress leader Ajay Rai on Monday took a jibe at Union minister Smriti Irani here, saying that she only comes to her constituency Amethi to show "latkas" and "jhatkas", an unflattering reference to dance moves that provoked a sharp response from the BJP.
On Twitter, Irani accused the Congress of misogyny and targeted Rahul Gandhi, whom she had defeated in Amethi in the last parliamentary election. Gandhi is now the MP from Wayanad in Kerala.
"You and Mummy ji need to get your mysoginistic (misogynist) goons a new speechwriter," the Union Minister for Women and Child Development said.
She also taunted the former Congress president for losing in home turf Amethi and seeking election from another seat.
Asked if Gandhi will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, Rai told reporters, "It has been the seat of the Gandhi family. Rahul ji has been the Lok Sabha MP from there. So has been Rajiv (Gandhi) ji and Sanjay (Gandhi) ji, and they have served it."
"Most of the factories in Amethi are on the verge of closure. Half of the factories in Jagdishpur industrial area are lying shut. Smriti Irani only comes, shows 'latka-jhatka', and leaves," Rai, who is a regional chief of the party, said.
He said Amethi is Gandhi family's seat and "it will remain so."
It is the demand of the party workers that "Rahul Gandhi should contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Amethi," Rai said.
Addressing Rahul Gandhi in her tweet, Irani said he has got a regional leader to announce in an "indecent manner" that he is contesting from Amethi.
"So should I take it as certain that you would contest from Amethi? Won't run away to another seat? Won't get scared?" she said in Hindi.
Earlier on Monday, UP BJP spokesperson Anand Dubey, while reacting to Rai's comments, said, "The language used by the Congress has always been anti-women. It shows the culture and mindset of the Congress. And a party, which has given a woman prime minister to the nation, and which was headed by a woman president for a long time, such statements from its leader, is definitely shameful."
Dubey said prominent Congress leaders had been winning Lok Sabha elections from Amethi and Rae Bareli, but these districts "lagged behind in almost every parameter."
"After the Narendra Modi-led BJP government came at the Centre, and the Yogi Adityanath-led government came in Uttar Pradesh, development is taking place in these districts. The people of Amethi had already rejected Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha election," Dubey said in Lucknow.