Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday, alleging that the manner in which Union minister Smriti Irani took the name of P🔯resident Droupadi Mu꧙rmu in the House amounted to degrading the status of that office, and demanded that her remarks be expunged.
Referring to the row over his "Rashtrapati&q🥂uot; remark, Chowdhury said he has the hi🦹ghest regard for Murmu and that the controversy erupted because of a "mere slip of the tongue on my part".
"This error occurred because my mother tongue 🌼is Bengali and I am not well-versed with Hindi. It is really very sad that Madam Rashtrapati Ji's name is being unnecessarily dragged in order to gain cheap publicity and political one-upmanship by the ruling party," the Congress leader said.
He also appealed to Birla that since Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had nothing to do with the controv༒ersy, the entire episode mentioni🌸ng her name may also be expunged from the House proceedings.
Talking to reporters during a protest at Vijay Chowk here on Wednes😼day, Chowdhury had used the word "Rashtrapati" for Murmu, which triggered a major political row, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raising the issue in Parliament and demanding an apology from him and the Congress president.
In his letter to Birla, Chowdhury also said the manner in which Irani took Murmu's name in the House was ne🦋ither proper nor in consonance with the status and position of the president.
"She was yelling 'Droupadi Murmu' repeatedly without prefixing Hon'ble President or Madame or Smt. before the Hon'ble President's name. This clear🌠ly amounts to degrading the stature of the office of the Hon'ble President.
"Therefoꦡre, I demand that the way Smt. Smriti Irani was addressing the Hon'ble President may be expunged from the proceeding🥂s of the House," he said.
Chowdh🦄ury also tendered a written apology to Murmu o🥃n Friday for his "Rashtrapati" remark.
(Inputs from PTI)
