A Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Bihar on Friday dismissed Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s influence in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and claimed that her beauty will not win votes, ANI reported.

On Wednesday, the Congress appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the sister of party chief Rahul Gandhi, to the post of general secretary for the Uttar Pradesh East region.

“Votes cannot be won on [the] basis of beautiful faces,” said Minister of Public Health and Engineering Vinod Narayan Jha. “Moreover, she is the wife of Robert Vadra, who is accused of involvement in land scam and several corruption cases. She’s very beautiful, but other than that she holds no political achievement.”

The National Commission for Women condemned Jha’s “inappropriate remarks”.

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of presiding over an administration where ministers abused others, ANI reported. “Nitish Kumar ji is running an institute where he trains to abuse and make excuses, his Cabinet ministers and spokespersons are trained there,” said Yadav.

RJD Vice-President Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the remark was deplorable. He urged Kumar to immediately sack Jha or face serious consequences.

Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra described Jha’s comment as “disgusting”. “Nitish Kumar should sack him immediately and try to give him additional security as his foul utterances could lead to serious reactions from the Congress cadre,” said Mishra.

Janata Dal (United) MLC Ashok Choudhary said the ruling party did not approve of Jha’s remarks, PTI reported. “Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has an undeniable charisma and aura, which may or may not bring desired results in the elections,” he said. “But the way she has been spoken about does not appear to be in good taste.”

‘Woman with a tainted life partner’

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday had also attacked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s entry into active politics by criticising her husband Robert Vadra. “Priyanka’s businessman husband’s irregular land transactions are spread across two states and he is facing probes,” the BJP said in a tweet. “If the Congress wants to exult over the induction of a woman with a tainted life partner, congratulations to them.”

Modi also took a jibe at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s resemblance with her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Many expect that this will help the Congress garner more votes in the upcoming elections.

“If a person could become as capable as someone else merely by resembling him or her, by now we would have had many more Amitabh Bachchans and Virat Kohlis,” Modi had tweeted. “Duplicates do not work in politics. Priyanka might resemble Indira, but there is a big difference.”