UP minister lands in a soup after praising DM's 'beauty'

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Khadi and Gramodyog Rajram Pandey has landed in a controversy by praising the ‘beauty’ of a senior lady bureaucrat at an official function in Sultanpur, a move which has drawn the ire of Samajwadi Party leaders.

On Monday, Pandey, after distributing cheques to unemployed youth at the Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology in Sultanpur, suddenly went off track by praising the beauty of District Magistrate K Dhanlakshmi, who was also present there.

Pandey said he was lucky the district also had a lady district magistrate, referring to the last time when Kamini Chauhan was the DM.

"Mujhe lagta tha ki unse sunder mahila DM nahi ho sakti, par is baar jab main prabhari manrti hoon to (current) DM unse bha adhik sunder hain," he said. (I used to think that no other woman DM could be beautiful, but I found that this DM is even more beautiful).

The minister also termed her a, "Very soft spoken and competent administrator".

Though the comment was lauded by the audience, which was dominated by Samajwadi Party workers, the DM looked extremely uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, a section of SP workers have taken the comment as indecent and sought a public apology from him.

"Pandey's behaviour would send a wrong message among the people with regard to the party and government," SP Member of Legislative Assembly Ravidas Mahrotra said.