My speech was not derogatory, says TDP MP

New Delhi: Telugu Desam MP from Chittoor, N Siva Prasad, who was suspended from Lok Sabha for wearing a mask of Indira Gandhi in the House, said he had not made anything insulting towards the Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Speaking to The Hans India, he said he wore the mask of Indira Gandhi only to impress upon Sonia Gandhi that her mother in-law promised united Andhra Pradesh in 1972 and restored NTR, who was sacked as Chief Minister in 1994 by the then Governor at her instance, back to power, showing exemplary political flexibility to respect the sentiments of the people. “I wanted to tell Sonia Gandhi to follow the example of her mother-in-law by wearing her mask.

I did not utter even a single word to insult her,” he said. He said the Congress members Madhu Yaski Goud and Sandeep Dikshit started abusing him and threatened to kill him. “Is it a crime to innovatively express oneself by wearing a mask of a great person like India Gandhi? I was told in legislatures, veteran members used to recite poems and sing songs to buttress their arguments. The Congress member did not understand my concept and pounced on me,” he said. The TDP MPs are not afraid of the Congress members’ threats and we would show them what the self respect of Telugu people means,” he said.