Will quit poll race if charge proved true: Gambhir

New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir, the BJP candidate from East Delhi in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, hit back aggressively on Thursday on being accused of involvement in the alleged distribution of "obscene and derogatory" pamphlets against his AAP rival Atishi, saying he will file a defamation suit against the leaders of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The cricketer-turned-politician also said he would withdraw from the Lok Sabha contest if the charge was proved against him. "I declare that if its proven that I did it, I will withdraw my candidature right now. If not, will u quit politics?" he said in a tweet addressed to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal and Atishi, the party candidate from East Delhi.

Gambhir slammed Kejriwal in a series of tweets, saying he was "ashamed" to have him as the Chief Minister of Delhi. The political atmosphere in the national capital vitiated hours before the poll campaigning concluded on Friday evening, with the BJP and the AAP indulging in a bitter blame game. "I abhor your act of outraging a woman's modesty @ArvindKejriwal and that too your own colleague.

And all this for winning elections? U r filth Mr CM and someone needs ur very own Jhadu (broom) to clean ur dirty mind," Gambhir tweeted. In a statement, the political greenhorn said there were five women in his family and that he would not resort to such "petty" politics. "I will not let the AAP leaders go scotfree. I will file defamation suit against them," he said.

Atishi has alleged that the pamphlets containing derogatory remarks about her as well as her family were distributed by the BJP at housing complexes in East Delhi. "I had welcomed Gambhir myself when he joined politics, but I never imagined that he would stoop to this level in the Lok Sabha polls," she said.

AAP leaders slammed Gambhir on social media and other platforms, with Kejriwal saying he never imagined that the BJP nominee would "stoop so low", while urging Atishi to stay strong. Gambhir claimed that the "petty politics" exhibited by the AAP was the reason why people with good intentions stayed away from mainstream politics.