Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress drops Supriya Shrinate amid row over remarks on Kangana Ranaut

The Congress today dropped Supriya Shrinate as a candidate from the constituency she contested in 2019, amid roaring outrage over her remarks on actor Kangana Ranaut, the BJP's pick from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi.

In the midst of the continuing controversy over her comments about actor Kangana Ranaut, the Bharatiya Janata Party's nominee from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, the Congress party withdrew Supriya Shrinate as its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday.

Remarkably, Shrinate has been removed from consideration as the candidate for the seat she ran for in 2019. The Congress leader contested the last Lok Sabha polls from Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh but lost to BJP’s Pankaj Chaudhary. The party replaced Shrinate with Virendra Chaudhary as its pick for the Lok Sabha seat.

The incident transpired subsequent to Shrinate receiving a great deal of backlash on social media for her disparaging social media post against star Kangana Ranaut, the BJP candidate from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. In her offensive Instagram post, Shrinate included a picture of Ranaut and said, "Kya bhav chal raha hai Mandi mere koi batayega? (May I ask what the going rate is in Mandi?)

Following the outrage, Shrinate promptly clarified and said that several people had access to her social media accounts, and one of them made the inappropriate post. Speaking further, she said, “As soon as I came to know, I deleted that post. Everyone who knows me, also knows very well that I can never make personal and indecent comments towards any woman. I wanted to know how this happened."

Meanwhile, the Election Commission also issued a show-cause notice to Shrinate over her post.

Responding to the Congress leader’s remarks, Ranaut took to social media and said, “Dear Supriya ji. In the last 20 years of my career as an artist, I have played all kinds of women. From a naive girl in Queen to a seductive spy in Dhaakad, from a goddess in Manikarnika to a demon in Chandramukhi, from a prostitute in Rajjo to a revolutionary leader in Thalaivii,” posted Ranaut on X, addressing the Congress spokesperson.