New Delhi: Days after Congress's Randeep Surjewala controversial remarks against BJP MP Hema Malini created controversy, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice against him for his alleged undignified remarks.
The poll body has also sought a response from Congress supremo Mallikarjun Kharge on the steps taken to ensure strict compliance with its advisories on upholding the honour and dignity of women during public discourse by its leaders.
Both the leaders have been asked by the commission to submit their response. While Surjewala as per the show cause notice has been asked to respond by April 11 evening, Mallikarjun Kharge has been given time till the following evening. On April 1, the poll panel issued a similar show cause notice to Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for her derogatory remarks against BJP's Kanagana Ranaut.
Meanwhile, reacting to Surjewala's remark, Hema Malini on Thursday said that the leaders of the opposition should learn how to respect women from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "They target only popular people because targeting the unpopular ones won't do them any good... They should learn how to respect women from PM Narendra Modi," she said.
After facing a backlash from the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party over his alleged objectionable statement against BJP MP Hema Malini, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Thursday clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor-politician. Surjewala's clarification comes after BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya shared an undated video on X and accused the Congress MP of making some objectionable remarks about Hema Malini.
"Referring to this, Surjewala said that the video posted by the BJP leader has been edited, distorted and shared to distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India.
"BJP's IT Cell has developed a habit of editing, distorting and spreading fake news so that it can distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and failures and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India," he said.
