The Congress party on Wednesday dropped Supriya Shrinate as its candidate from the Maharajganj seat in Uttar Pradesh as it released its eight list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections amidst the ongoing row over her objectionable post regarding BJP Mandi candidate and actor Kangana Ranaut.
Shrinate, who contested from Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj last time but lost to BJP’s Pankaj Chaudhary, has been dropped this time. Congress has named Virendra Chaudhary from the seat, replacing Shrinate, who is caught up in a massive political whirlpool over her post about Kangana Ranaut.
What is Supriya Shrinate VS Kangana Ranaut’s controversy?
Earlier this week, Supriya Shrinate, who is the chairperson of social media and digital platforms for the Congress, found herself embroiled in controversy due to an objectionable post on BJP candidate from Himachal’s Mandi constituency Kangana Ranaut. The post, written in Hindi and featuring a photograph of Ranaut, was shared from Shrinate’s Instagram account shortly after the BJP announced its list of 111 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The post read, “Kya bhav chal raha hai Mandi main koi batayega (can someone say what is the going rate in Mandi),” seemingly making a derogatory reference to the actor and her constituency.
As the controversy raged over comments made from her social media handle, Shrinate clarified on Monday that she could never make such personal and indecent remarks about any woman.
“Someone who had access to my meta accounts ( FB and Insta) posted an absolutely disgusting and objectionable post, which has been taken down. Anyone who knows me will know I would never say that for a woman. However, a parody account that I have just discovered misusing my name is being run on Twitter ( @Supriyaparody ) which started the whole mischief, and is being reported,” she wrote in a post on X.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Election Commission issued a show-cause notice to Shrinate regarding her post.
On the same day, the Congress announced its eighth list for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, revealing 14 candidates for four states – Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Jharkhand. With this announcement, the party has now named a total of 208 candidates.
Among the notable nominations, Rao Yadvendra Singh will contest against Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna constituency, while Pratap Bhanu Sharma will face former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Vidisha. Tarvar Singh Lodhi has been nominated from Damoh.
In Jharkhand, the party announced Kalicharan Munda as its candidate from the Khunti (ST) constituency, Sukhdeo Bhagat from Lohardaga (ST), and Jaiprakashbhai Patel from the Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency.