Tbilisi, DFWatch – A member of parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, whose apparent confusion of the abbreviation for European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a brothel has become an instant hit in social media, came forward of Thursday in his attempt to explain his awkward speech a day earlier.

“I think EBRD should issue an award to me because of the great publicity I’ve made on behalf of it,” Soso Jachvliani, current MP and former armwrestler and actor, told journalists at the parliament claiming that his infamous statements didn’t have political implications.

Rather, he said, it was a response to the mockery from Eka Kherkheulidze, another MP and member of National Movement.

“Kalbatoni Eka knew very well that I wasn’t invited at EBRD forum, as I am neither a financier nor a banker. She made fun of me and got a response,” Jachvliani said.

Back in May, during EBRD forum held in Tbilisi, Eka Kherkheulidze criticized her political opponents, members of Georgian Dream faction for not attending parliament’s plenary session with an occasion as being present at EBRD forum.

Then she exemplified Soso Jachvliani, remarking scathingly “…as if Mr. Jachvliani is performing a speech at the EBRD conference.”

Political parties in Georgia have often been criticized for including in their parliamentary lists popular people far from politics – movie stars, prominent sportsmen, poets, etc. However, due to high popularity of such persons among common voters, particularly in the countryside, political groups have tried to lay hands on such popularities to use them as locomotives in their electoral campaigns.