Draupadi Vastraharan row: BJP seeks Rahul's apology

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an unconditional apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi after his party used 'Draupadi Vastraharan' poster during the protest in Telangana.

The Congress Election Commission Coordinate Committee was protesting against the alleged failure of the ECI in the recent Telangana Assembly elections. As part of the protest, the Congress party had put up the posters depicting 'Draupadi Vastraharan' in Telangana.

The controversial poster depicts 'Draupadi Vastraharan' - a scene from Mahabharata. The poster displays voters as Draupadi who is being disrobed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), which is shown as Kauravas, while Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi standing on one side as mute spectators.

In the poster, the voters were titled as 'Democracy in Telangana'.

After all this controversy, BJP state spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao released a video demanding an unconditional apology from Rahul for allowing Congress leaders to use the 'Draupadi Vastrapaharan' as a design template as a medium to stage their protest against the ECI in Hyderabad.

He also questioned the Congress newly-appointed General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, "Whether she will approve this kind of thing where women and Hindu mythological characters were used as a cartoon in posters for a protest by a political party."

Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that though it is everyone's right to stage a protest for their demands but the way the Congress party has done by putting posters featuring Telangana Chief Minister and him was completely wrong.

Owaisi further asked that how would the Congress leaders in Telangana feel if a cartoon with the party's top leaders was made. He questioned: "What if someone creates a cartoon of Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. How would the party react then? I respect Sonia Gandhi. The Congress party can protest for their rights but not in such a way which insults women."

However, TPCC election committee head Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who took up the responsibilty of controversial posters, said that he did not find anything wrong in it.

Speaking to ANI, TPCC election committee head Marri Shashidhar Reddy said: "The BJP must out there mind for seeking an apology from Rahul Gandhi and local Congress leaders. I will take the complete responsibility for this poster. There is nothing to do with Hindu sentiment as it is a depiction to show what Telangana democracy is being subjected to 'Draupadi Vastrapaharan' in Mahabharatham. The Election Commission is silent and they have failed to identify the mistakes in the electoral roll. I being a Hindu will never do anything to Hindu sentiment.