Congress leader and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh tied himself in knots by first referring to a BJP woman leader as an ‘item’ at a rally on Sunday and then getting further entangled with his clarification that just added to the whole mess.

“I said something, it wasn’t to insult anyone… I just didn’t remember the (person’s) name…this list (in his hand) says item no.1, item no.2, is this an insult? Shivraj is looking for excuses, Kamal Nath doesn’t insult anyone, he’ll only expose you with truth,” Nath said at  a rally on Monday, reports ANI.

The 73-year-old leader courted controversy on Sunday during his campaign for the upcoming Assembly by-poll by referring to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, Imarti Devi, who was with the Congress till early 2020, as an ‘item’. “Our candidate is not like her… what’s her name? (people shout Imarti Devi, who is former State Minister) You know her better and should have warned me earlier… ye kya item hai,” Nath said, reports ANI.

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This triggered immediate backlash with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan shooting off a letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi demanding Nath’s removal from all posts. “Immediately remove him from all party posts & strongly condemn his statement. If you fail to react, I’ll be compelled to believe that you support it,” the letter said, reports ANI.

Imarti Devi, in her sharp response, appealed to Gandhi to remove ‘such’ people from her party. “Such people (former CM Kamal Nath) have no right to stay in Madhya Pradesh…I demand Congress president Sonia Gandhi to remove him from the party. She is also a woman and a mother, will she tolerate if anybody will say something like this about her daughter?” said Imarti Devi, according to ANI.

“What’s my fault if I was born in a poor family? What is my fault if I belong to Dalits?”, added Imarti Devi, the candidate from Dabra for November 3 by-polls. Devi and 21 other MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia had resigned from the Congress and the state Assembly and joined the BJP in March, bringing down the Kamal Nath government.

“This is Congress’s principle. First, Digvijay Singh had said something about Congress leader Meenakshi Natrajan which I don’t remember, now Kamal Nath called BJP’s Imarti Devi an ‘item’ while Ajay Singh called her ‘Jalebi’. Congress never respects women,” said BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was formerly with the Congress.

By-polls for 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 3 and votes will be counted on November 10.