Sonia refuses to comment on Giriraj Singh's 'narrow mindset'

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday refused to express her opinion on Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and BJP leader Giriraj Singh's 'white-skinned' remark, saying she did not want to comment on a 'narrow mindset'.

"I do not want to comment on a narrow mindset," she said.

The Bihar MP's controversial remark on the Congress president has led to innumerable protests by political parties and social activists throughout the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, Singh had said his comment on the Congress president was made 'off the record' and added that it was being presented by the media in a different light.

"The things that are being shown by the media were something that was said off the record. People say many kinds of things at home or outside. The way it was presented is a different issue. But If I have hurt anyone's sentiments including Sonia ji and Rahul ji, I regret what I said," he told ANI.

Singh, who was sitting among a group of his supporters in Hajipur in Bihar, had jocularly asked whether Sonia's "white skin" had been her ticket to securing the top job in the Congress Party.

Stoking the controversy further, he further queried, "If Rajiv (Gandhi) had married a Nigerian, things would have been different.