Kalyan Banerjee regrets "people will slap Modi to Gandhinagar, during next election" comment

The News Minute | December 10, 2014 | 6:00 pm ISTTrinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee Wednesday expressed regret over his comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri which had created a furore in the Lok Sabha.His apology came after the ruling BJP members moved a notice to condemn his remarks as soon as the Lok Sabha assembled for the day.Addressing a rally in Hooghly district in West Bengal last week, Banerjee made personal attacks against Modi and Shastri."To respect your chair (the speaker) and if I hurt anybody's sentiments, I express my regret," Banerjee said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.However, initially when he tendered his apology, he had said that his remarks had been provoked by the West Bengal BJP chief's comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.This had led to protests from the BJP members who asked him to apologise unequivocally.Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said: "We want a clear apology"."I thought the member would take back his statement and apologise. But unfortunately he raised technical issues and said that his speech was in reaction to something".Following this, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked Banerjee to apologise once again.Banerjee three days ago, during a political rally, took a dig at the prime minister saying “In the 2019 general elections, people would slap Mr Modi and send him to a lane in Gandhinagar from where he would never be able to come out.”Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the issue needn't be discussed in the house as the comment was made at a political rally."When during elections, things are said outside the house, then usually these things are not discussed," he said.Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said that he was surprised at the ruling party's reaction to the issue.However, the BJP was unrelenting, arguing that the prime minister as well as Banerjee were both members of the Lok Sabha and thus it was correct to discuss the issue in the house.The matter was raised Tuesday by BJP MP from Darjeeling S.S. Ahluwalia.With IANS