Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Shobha Karandlaje and other female party members on Wednesday filed a complaint with Lok Sabha President Om Birla against Rahul Gandhi for what they consider "irrelevant" behavior. indecent" and his "inappropriate" gesture towards Union Minister Smriti Irani in the house.
Shobha Karandlaje has submitted a letter signed by 21 female BJP members to the Presidential Chamber demanding strict action against Rahul Gandhi.
“We demand stern action on such behavior from the part of the MP who not only insults the dignity of female members of the House of Commons but also discredits and demeans this House. ," the letter read.
Rahul Gandhi, who gave his first speech in parliament after being reinstated as an MP, blew a kiss to the BJP MPs. The moment, which was not caught on camera, occurred as the leader of the National Assembly was walking out of the Lok Sabha campus and Smriti Irani's speech was in progress.
“We have never seen such a thing in Congress. Either he winks at the House or he behaves indecently. We strongly condemn this. We sent a letter to the President, asking him to find the footage (of the flying kiss) and act. All boundaries have been crossed today," Karandlaje told India Today by phone.
According to those who witnessed the moment, when Rahul Gandhi was leaving Lok Sabha headquarters after his no-confidence motion speech, he dropped several files and when he bent down to pick them up, some BJP congressmen began to mock him. They said that Rahul Gandhi sent a kiss to the BJP members and walked out.
Criticizing Rahul Gandhi for the flying kiss, the Union's Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, called him a 'man who despises women' and said he was an act of obscenity.
"Only a man who looks down on women can give a wind kiss to congresswomen. Such a case has never been seen before. It shows what he thinks about women. It's obscene," she said.
However, congressman Shiv Sena (UBT) Priyanka Chaturvedi countered the accusations and said: "I was at the visitor's gallery and he (Rahul Gandhi) did it as a sign of emotional."
