Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat on Thursday sought an apology from the Congress over its leader Sheikh Hussain's objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to ANI, Thakor Jugal Lokhandwala said, "This is the distorted mentality of the Congress party. We see that the Congress party stands with those people who talk about dividing and ruining the country and those who work to create an atmosphere of fear."
"Prime Minister is of the entire country and not of any political party. The Congress party should apologize to the country for its leader's objectionable remark against the Prime Minister and if it does not apologise, then the Bharatiya Janata Party will not sit silently," the BJP MP said.
He demanded strict action against Sheikh Hussain.
"My further demand is that the Maharashtra government should register FIR against Sheikh Hussain who has made derogatory remarks against our Prime Minister and should take strict action," added Lokhandwala.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress leader Sheikh Hussain, who has been charged in a police FIR filed in Nagpur for his alleged offensive comments against the Prime Minister, on Wednesday said that he does not regret his statement and that his party will fight against any action taken against him.
"I have not said anything that an FIR should have been registered. I delivered the speech based on the party line. The last sentence that I said, I used an idiom. There are so many things that are said as idioms, I just said that," Hussain told ANI. He also said there was nothing "regrettable" about his remark.
"I have said nothing regrettable. Our leaders are being served ED notices everyday. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been summoned. Aren't there people in the BJP? And the people who switch from BJP to Congress are given ED notices, while the opposite is happening when someone switches from Congress to BJP," he said.
"If there will be action, we will see how our party fights against it. The party will fight. I did not speak anything derogatory. I did not make any personal remark," the Congress leader said.
A case was registered on Tuesday at the Gittikhadan Police Station in Nagpur under Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 504 of the IPC (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).
( With inputs from ANI )
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