My son asked me to fight it out: Smriti Irani on Congress notice

Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said she was not deterred by the legal notice sent to her by the Congress for attacking its vice president and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking at a media conclave here, the BJP leader disclosed that the legal notice sent to her was received by her 13-year-old son.

She said when she asked her son what needed to be done, he suggested that she should fight it out.

"My son first went through the legal notice and then said 'lada jaye' (let's battle it out)," she told the gathering amid a round of applause.

Irani also alleged that the Congress had tried to browbeat her apparently thinking that she was a woman.

"They should realise that women of this country are not so meek and would rather fight it out," she said.

She, however, refused to comment on the foreign trip of Rahul Gandhi.

It was for the Congress to take interest in such matters, the minister added.

When asked to respond on the possibility of her being named as the chief ministerial candidate by the BJP for Uttar Pradesh, Irani said she had never aspired for any post and instead believes in life as it comes.

"When I was a television actor, I did not know that one day I would be a union minister. I live in present and would like to be known as a good HRD minister," she said.