Facing huge backlash from Shiv Sena's foe-turned-friend Congress in Maharashtra, party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday withdrew his controversial comments wherein he claimed that former prime minister Indira Gandhi met gangster Karim Lala in Mumbai.
"If someone feels my statement hurt Indira Gandhi's image, or someone's feelings, I take it back," Raut said. "In the past, I have taken her (Gandhi's) side and argued with people who tried to malign her image. In such cases, some Congress leaders had remained silent," the Rajya Sabha member said.
During an interview to the Lokmat media group at its award function in Pune on Wednesday, Raut claimed that "Indira Gandhi used to meet Karim Lala in Pydhonie (in south Mumbai)".
Karim Lala was one of the three top underworld dons of Mumbai for over two decades, from the sixties to the early eighties, the other two being Mastan Mirza alias Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar.
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Raut's remarks had invited strong criticism from Maharashtra Congress leaders Milind Deora and Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday. They had asked him to withdraw his "ill-informed" remarks. "As former @INCMumbai President, I demand that @rautsanjay61 ji withdraws his ill-informed statement. Political leaders must show restraint before distorting the legacies of deceased Prime Ministers," Deora tweeted.
Nirupam said Raut will "repent" if he continues a "false campaign" against Gandhi.
