File photo of Nitin Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday shared a gardening tip that may not impress his neighbours, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but is quite the sensation on social media.
Mr Gadkari revealed that he once used his own urine on plants in his lawns at his 2, Motilal Nehru Marg residence, a bungalow that used to be the office of the former National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi and is just across the road from her 10, Janpath home.
"I started storing my urine in a plastic can. And after collecting all of it in a 50-litre can - I have a big bungalow in Delhi. It used to be Sonia Gandhi's bungalow. There is a one acre field in the bungalow," Mr Gadkari is heard saying in a video uploaded on YouTube by ABP Majha.
"There are a lot of trees there. So one day I called the gardener and instructed him to water some plants with this. And I'm telling you, there was so much difference, the trees grew one-and-a-half feet more than other plants," said the Transport Minister, confessing to some "awkwardness" in talking about his experiment.
Mr Gadkari was addressing a workshop organized by his party, the BJP, on fighting drought. His ideas reminded many parliamentarians of former prime minister Morarji Desai, who was known to advocate urine therapy for good health.
Botanical experts say there is no scientific evidence to prove the benefits of urine as fertilizer.
Mr Garkari's comments did, however, spur a frenzy of jokes and comments on Twitter.
"US Ambassador files RTI to find out if salad served at Gadkari dinner was grown in-house," said a tweet from a parody account, RushdieExplainsIndia.