Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi Took Husband's Surname: Tripura Royal Amid Row

Founder of Tipra Motha and royal scion of Tripura, Pradyot Kishore Debbarman on Wednesday hit back at the Congress party after allegations were raised against his sister's surname and stated that it is Indian tradition to take the surname of husband after marriage.

Replying to a query on the Congress party's allegations, Mr Debbarman said, "We are from India. Here daughters take their husband's surname after marriage. Indira Gandhi was not born with the Gandhi surname. When she got married to Feroze Gandhi, she was accorded the husband's surname as per the Indian traditions. Similar logic applies for Sonia Gandhi as well. Priyanka Gandhi also uses the surname of Vadra with her name. My sister was born in this family. She inherited the surname from her ancestors and when she got married, she got the surname of her husband."

Mr Debbarman also added that he holds the senior Congress in high regard and never spoke anything against Rahul Gandhi or other senior Congress leaders. He also urged the voters to cast their votes on the day of elections.

Making an appeal to the Election Commission to arrange adequate facilities for the voters given the ongoing heatwave like situation in Tripura. "Proper sheds and water should be arranged for the voters as we can see the hot weather," said Mr Debbarman.

Notably, Mr Debbarman's eleder sister, Kriti Singh is candidate for ruling BJP-TIPRA Motha combine in East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency. She was born and brought up in Shillong, having education up to Class X, and married to Yogeshwar Raj Singh of Rajkot royal family of Chhattisgarh.

As per the record of the Election Commission of India, she was identified as Kriti Devi Singh who fought the 2018 Chhattisgarh assembly election from Kawardha constituency as an independent candidate. But the BJP identified her as Kriti Singh Debbarman.

It is also worthy to be noted here that the vocal campaign for East Tripura comes to an end on Wednesday. The elections for the high profile seat is slated to take place on April 26.

The first phase of Lok Sabha polls took place on April 19 and the remaining 6 phases of the elections will continue on different dates till June 1 to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha. The results will be announced on June 4.

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