'There are prettier campaigners than Priyanka Gandhi': BJP MP Vinay Katiyar

New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar on Wednesday caused controversy by saying that “there are prettier campaigners than Priyanka Gandhi”, a day after the Congress announced that she would campaign for the party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.

"There are more beautiful star campaigners...heroines, artistes...they are better," Katiyar, a Rajya Sabha member , was quoted as saying when asked if Priyanka’s presence would make a difference to Congress’ fortunes.

Priyanka Gandhi was included in a list of 40 star campaigners that the Congress released on Tuesday. The 45-year-old has in earlier elections campaigned in the family constituencies of Raebareli and Amethi, and her party on Tuesday said she may confine herself to these constituencies even this time around.

However, she has still been included as a speaker in the first set of constituencies that will vote on February 4, which do not include Amethi and Raebareli.

Katiyar’s comments came even as JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav remarked on Tuesday that ‘the honour of a vote is more important than the honour of a daughter’.

In comments that raised the hackles of the National Commission for Women (NCW), Yadav said, "If a daughter loses honour, the village loses its honour. But if a vote is sold, the nation will lose its honour,” in an apparent exhortation to people to practice clean politics.

Ironically, Vinay Katiyar had condemned Yadav’s comments.