'Soap slur won't wash with me', says India MP Gandhi

Kanker, Chhattisgarh: Making light of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's allegation that he took a bath with a special soap to "purify" himself after visiting a Dalit home, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said people can say what they want to but that would not deter him.

"Do you think I use a special soap?" Gandhi asked reporters on Sunday, when asked to respond to Mayawati's charges.

The Congress general secretary then got up from his chair and pointed to his white kurta pyjama - which had lost its sheen due to the heat and dust.

Getting serious, he said: "People will say what they have to say. My job is to go and listen to those who are not heard and I do my job."

Gandhi had spent a night with a Dalit family in his Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh in February and then visited a Dalit family in Aminabad area, which had lost six members in a fight with bandits.