Gadkari apologises for calling Yadavs dogs

Chandigarh, May 13: Hours after calling Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav as bootlickers of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP President, Nitin Gadkari apologised to the Yadavs saying that he did not want to offend them.

Sensing the trouble that his remarks could create, the BJP President retraced his statements stating that it was just phrase which he had used.

"I was just using a phrase in the speech to make a point. I take my words back if this has hurt anyone. I have not called them dogs personally. It was only a phrase. It should not be misunderstood. I was talking of their role," Gadkari told a news agency immediately after the remarks.

Gadkari stirred up controversy when he slammed the Yadavs for betraying the opposition on the recent cut motions in Parliament in a rally.

"Bade dakarte the sher jaise, aur kutte ke jaise ban kar Sonia-ji aur Congress ke ghar par talve chatne lage' (these leaders were roaring like lions but later bowed like dogs to lick the feet of Sonia and the Congress)."

"In front of the TV, Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad stood with Sushma Swaraj (leader of opposition). All these parties stood with us but turned away later," Gadkari said.

"What happened during the cut motion? The BSP went and sat in the lap of the Congress," he said.

"Someone asked me later which party is with the Congress? I said that only one party was with the Congress - the Congress Bureau of Investigation," Gadkari said taking a swipe at the Congress for allegedly using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against political leaders.

"Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad bowed before the CBI. In their inquiry, somewhere the lawyer was changed while somewhere the affidavit was changed," the BJP president claimed.

OneIndia News