Mukund Bhaskar Mani Tripathi, the Congress leader from Deoria, whose candidature led to a major ruckus on Sunday after a woman leader, Tara Yadav, accused him of being a rapist, has now put out a video clarifying his position.

In the one-minute video, Tripathi claims that the allegations levelled against him are "politically motivated and designed to malign his image". "All allegations against me are baseless and I want to warn the woman as well as some channels that have been publicising the allegations that I will soon initiate legal action against them. I will file defamation cases against those who are trying to damage me and my party," he said.