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Updated: Jan 20, 2019 23:48 IST

A political row broke out on Sunday after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA appeared to use a derogatory remark against Mayawati, inviting an angry reaction from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief’s outfit and the National Commission for Women (NCW).

Referring to the recent announcement of an alliance between the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and BSP, Uttar Pradesh BJP legislator Sadhana Singh said on Saturday that Mayawati “sold her dignity” for power and comfort and “is a blot on womankind”.

A video clip also showed Singh using derogatory remarks against the BSP chief, which prompted the women’s commission to say on Sunday that the panel was issuing a notice to the BJP legislator for an explanation.

Singh made the remark while speaking about an incident in which the BSP chief was allegedly assaulted by SP workers at a guest house in Lucknow in 1995. On Sunday, she issued a press statement that said: “Recently, the speech given by me was not intended to insult anyone, but to remind how the BJP had helped Mayawati in the guest house case on June 2, 1995... I would like to apologise if my words have hurt anyone.”

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said the panel will send a notice to Singh on Monday. “Such derogatory statements are unbecoming of a leader and highly condemnable.”

Reacting to the BJP MLA’s remark, BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra said: “The language used by BJP leader Sadhana Singh against our party president Mayawati shows the level of the BJP. This shows that BJP is disappointed and frustrated with the SP-BSP alliance. They have no strength to win even a single seat in Uttar Pradesh. The level of language shows their mental illness.”

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said the words used by the BJP MLA were “absolutely condemnable” and shameful. “I believe she owes the women of the nation an apology besides apologising to Mayawati Ji. What I find absolutely unfortunate as a woman is that a woman leader speaks such derogatory words about another woman,” she said.

The BSP and SP joined hands during the parliamentary by-polls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in UP last year in which SP candidates backed by the BSP succeeded in winning both the seats. In Kairana, the third by-poll in 2018, the two parties supported Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidateTabassum Begum, who won.

(With PTI inputs)