Kerala elephant death: Cong demands apology from Maneka Gandhi for comments against Malappuram

Kerala Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday slammed BJP leader Maneka Gandhi for her controversial comment against Malappuram district on the issue of a pregnant elephant's death and demanded an apology.

"Your irresponsible statement has given space for airing hate speeches abusing a district and its people. Withdraw and apologise for your statement portraying this district as a centre of crime," the Congress leader stated in the letter.

Chennithala demanded that the former Union Minister to "withdraw" her statement and "apologise for making such a false statement".

He also accused the BJP of politicising the issue and stated, "Please note that the death of the elephant happened in Palakkad district. Some of your party colleagues have even gone to the extent of fabricating news that the unfortunate incident has happened in Wayanad, the constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi. These kinds of attempts to politicise such an unfortunate incident are itself tragic and will not find any support from the enlightened society of Kerala."

An elephant had died on May 27 after she ate the pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in her mouth.

( With inputs from ANI )