BHOPAL: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday escalated his attack on the BJP over sexual harassment allegations levelled by several women journalists against Union Minister MJ Akbar. Addressing a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the BJPs slogan of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" and said it should be "BJP ke Mantri se Beti Bachao". The Congress chief also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for maintaining silence while one of his ministers was facing sexual harassment charges.

"Fingers are being raised at Modi's Minister (Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar), but our Prime Minister is silent. When BJP MLA (Kuldeep Singh Sengar) raped a girl in Unnao our Prime Minister and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Adityanath) kept mum. The BJP's slogan of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' (save girls, educate them) must now be reframed into 'BJP ke mantri aur MLA se beti bachao' (save daughters from BJP Minister, MLA)," IANS quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying during an election rally in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur.

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Several women journalists have come out during the #MeToo campaign and accused Akbar, a former newspaper editor and now the Union minister of state for external affairs, of sexually harassing them during his stint as a journalist. Akbar has rejected the allegations as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing", and also filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a Delhi court Monday against one of journalists who levelled charges against him.

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Rahul Gandhi also targeted the Modi government at the Centre and the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state over rising unemployment, corruption and unabated farmer suicides.

Attacking both Modi and Chouhan over a host of issues, Gandhi said Madhya Pradesh topped the country in terms of malnutrition and was one of the least developed states.