BHOPAL: Former Union minister and Congress' Lok Sabha candidate from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Kantilal Bhuria, who has courted a controversy with his "two wives" remark, has clarified that he passed the comment sarcastically in response to a tribal man's query.
Bhuria on Thursday kicked up a row by claiming that men with two wives stand to gain Rs 2 lakh under his party's Mahalaxmi scheme to give Rs 1 lakh annually to poor women.
The statement drew a sharp response from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which sought action from the Election Commission of India (ECI) against Bhuria (73), Union Minister for Tribal Affairs in the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Bhuria on Friday evening issued a video statement, saying that the news being run in the media is wrong and it was just a sarcastic reply to a query.
"What is going on in the media is wrong. A tribal man sitting in the meeting asked that if he has two wives, will he also get the benefit? It is legally permitted in tribal society, so I replied sarcastically," Bhuria said in a video statement issued on his X handle.
He said that if elected to power, the Congress will give every woman Rs 1 lakh annually by providing them Rs 8,500 per month.
While addressing a poll rally at Sailana in Ratlam seat said, "Our manifesto promises Rs 1 lakh to every woman. It will be deposited in her bank account. (For) The person who has two wives, both of them will come under it."
Bhuria is pitted against BJP's Anita Chauhan, the wife of MP Forest Minister Nagar Singh Chauhan.
Lok Sabha polls will be held in Ratlam on May 13.