Cong stages demo in Odisha seeking Giriraj’s scalp

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 2:

Odisha Congress today took to streets demanding the sacking of Union minister Giriraj Singh for his controversial remarks against party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi with party activists staging protests near the BJP state headquarters here and burning the effigy of the Union minister.

“We demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should drop Giriraj Singh immediately from the council of ministers and publicly apologise to the nation for the derogatory remarks made by the Union minister,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan said.

Terming Giriraj’s remarks as distasteful and deplorable, Prasad said the Prime Minister has rewarded such a controversial person with a ministerial berth.

The party workers assembled near the state BJP headquarters and burnt the effigy of Giriraj Singh.

Congress workers staged demonstrations across the state protesting against Singh’s “objectionable” and “racist” remarks and demanded his ouster, Prasad added.

In his controversial remark that has caused a countrywide furore, the Union minister had wondered aloud if the Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi as its leader had she been a dark-skinned Nigerian.

He had also compared Rahul to the ‘missing Malaysian airliner’.