Kamal Nath Apologizes For The 'Item' Remark At Imarti Devi, Hits Back At Shivraj Singh's Letter To Sonia Gandhi

Kamal Nath was campaigning for by-polls scheduled for November 3 in 28 Madhya Pradesh Assembly seats when he made the controversial remarks.

Photo: AFP

Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath apologised for his objectionable remarks to Imarti Devi after a political slugfest erupted and BJP trained its guns on the Congress leader. Kamal Nath said, "If somebody is hurt by my item remark, I apologise." Kamal Nath also responded to the letter written by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Congress President Sonia Gandhi over his contentious "item" remark against state minister Imarti Devi. The recent letter says "it would have been better if you would have written to your party president over derogatory remarks made by Ministers of your party." A massive political outrage has erupted after a video of senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath calling 'item' to former woman colleague and Madhya Pradesh minister Imarti Devi emerged on social media. Kamal Nath was campaigning for by-polls scheduled for November 3 in 28 Madhya Pradesh Assembly seats when he made the remarks. Addressing a poll meeting in Dabra, where the Congress is up against Imarti Devi of BJP, Kamal Nath said his party candidate was a simple person, unlike his opponent who is an 'item'. "Why should I take her name? You all know that person better than me. What an item," Nath said amid cheers from the crowd which kept shouting 'Imarti Devi' as the remarks were being made. Bharatiya Janata Party targetted Nath over his objectionable comment at Imarti Devi. While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that Nath’s comment is an insult to all the daughters and sisters of Madhya Pradesh and sat on a silent protest from 10 am to 12 pm on Monday, Smriti Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development spoke in support of Imarti Devi slamming Kamal Nath for his derogatory remark. Smriti Irani said that the Congress ministers have a history of defaming women and the sad part is that the women Congress leaders neither stop them nor criticise them for such behavior. Also Watch|MP: Kamal Nath apologizes for his 'item' remark, writes letter to CM