Gadkari’s ‘mard’ comment insulting to his women cabinet colleagues: Congress

Panaji, May 23 (IANS) The Congress has objected to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's macho assertion last week, where the senior BJP leader said he is a 'mard' (man) and openly put together the political jigsaw to form a government in Goa in March.

"Gadkari's mard comment is insulting to his women colleagues in the cabinet. When Gadkari says that he is a mard and therefore he was able to pull off the Goa government formation, is he trying to say that a woman could not have done this job?" All India Congress Committee secretary Girish Chodankar told a a press conference at the Congress state headquarters in Panaji.

"This is the problem with the BJP. It is all about male culture. They do not respect their women, therefore they make statements about their manliness," Chodankar said.

Speaking at a function in Delhi, Gadkari had said: "I am not a person who does political deals. I am a 'mard' and do everything openly. I did not carry any money to anyone in Goa. I don't do such things. I fight and get things done."

Chodankar also said that Gadkari, who spelled out in detail the manner in which he had gone about forming a coalition government in Goa, had omitted critical information about his arrival in Goa in a charter flight.

"We have been informed that when Gadkari landed in Goa in a charter plane, several helicopters also landed around the same time. What were they carrying, mithai from Mumbai and fire crackers from Delhi?" Chodankar said, adding that the BJP managed to form a coalition government in the coastal state due to horse-trading.

The BJP formed the government in Goa, despite the Congress having emerged as single largest party after the assembly election.