Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut has hit out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar's remark on her consuming beef, stating that she was a "proud Hindu" and never consumed any kind of red meat.
Her reaction came as Wadettiwar on Friday alleged that Kangana Ranaut, who is now a BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Himachal's Mandi, had once said that she ate beef.
To this, Kangana posted on X: "I don’t consume beef or any other kind of red meat, it is shameful that completely baseless rumours are being spread about me. I have been advocating and promoting yogic and Ayurvedic way of life for decades now such tactics won’t work to tarnish my image. My people know me and they know that I am a proud Hindu and nothing can ever mislead them, Jai Shri Ram."
The BJP had earlier slammed Wadettiwar's remarks as BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye stated the latter remarks "reflects Congress' dirty culture. "It cannot fight us on issues. This shows the party's defeatist mentality," Upadhye said.
Kangana had also courted controversy when she claimed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was the first Prime Minister of India. However, the late freedom fighter's family came up with a public response on Sunday. Netaji's grand-nephew hit out at Kangana Ranaut by saying that "no one should distort history for their political ambition."
Meanwhile, there are speculations about who the Congress would field against Kangana. Vikramaditya Singh, the Minister of Public Works Department and Urban Development in the Himachal Pradesh government, may contest the polls from Mandi, according to unconfirmed reports.
Many in the party believe Vikramaditya can help lure youth votes better than his mother and Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh. Prathibha had initially decided not to seek re-election from Mandi but later left the decision to the party.
During the 2019 elections, Prathibha defeated the BJP candidate by a slender margin of 8,500 votes in the by-polls in 2021. The by-polls were necessitated after the death of BJP MP Swaroop Sharma, who won the seat in 2019. At that time, it was speculated that a sympathy wave after the death of her husband, six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, propelled her to victory.
