New Delhi: BJP MP Pratap Simha, who is at the centre of the massive political row over the Lok Sabha security breach, on Sunday responded to the controversy as well as the ‘traitor’ posters, saying the people of the country will give their statement on him in the 2024 general elections.

Simha’s office had issued visitor passes to the two men who intruded into the Lok Sabha and created a ruckus, prompting a political row which culminated with the suspension of 143 Opposition MPs from the Parliament for the Winter Session.

In his first public reaction to the controversy, he said he had left it to the gods and his supporters to decide whether he was a traitor or not.

The Congress-led Opposition had demanded action against Simha

“Whether Pratap Simha is a traitor or a patriot — mother Goddess Chamundeshwari sitting on the hills of Mysuru, mother Goddess Cauvery who is sitting on Brahmagiri, my reader fans across Karnataka who have been reading my writings for the last twenty years, and people of Mysuru and Kodgu who have seen my work for 9.5 years and my conduct on issues related country, dharma and nationalism — will give their verdict through votes in Lok Sabha polls to be held in April, 2024,” Simha said, reported PTI.

On posters calling him a traitor, he said: “They (people) are the ones who have to ultimately give the judgement. They will decide whether I’m a patriot. I leave it to their decision. I don’t have anything to say other than that.”

Simha has been facing a protest by Congress workers.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday had said the statement of Simha had been recorded as part of the probe in the Parliament security breach case.

Simha is a two-term MP from Mysuru. He was a journalist before he won the elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014.