Irani must apologise for not using prefix before President's name: Adhir in letter to Birla

Seeking to corner the BJP, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday shot off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that Union Minister Smriti Irani apologise to President Droupadi Murmu for her "disrespectful remarks" that lowered the dignity and the stature of the President's office.

Chowdhury, who was in the eye of the controversy over his 'Rashtrapatni' remarks, said in the letter that his comments were a "slip of tongue", which dragged the President into an "unnecessary and unwarranted" controversy.

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"This inadvertent mistake happened because I am not very good in Hindi. I have regretted my mistake and have apologised to the President. However, I may like to point out that the manner in which Smriti Irani was taking the name of Honourable Madam President in the House was not proper and in consonance with the status and position of the President," he said.

"She was yelling ‘Droupadi Murmu’ repeatedly without prefixing the Honourable President or Madam or Smt before the President’s name. This clearly amounts to degrading the stature of the office of the President," he said demanding her apology

Also Read | Adhir writes to President Murmu, apologises for his 'rashtrapatni' remark

Congress has been protesting in Parliament since Thursday after Sonia Gandhi had a face-off with Smriti, who intervened in a conversation that the Congress president was having with senior BJP MP Rama Devi inside Lok Sabha chambers over why she was being asked to apologise when Chowdhury himself had expressed regret.

The party had accused Smriti and other BJP MPs of heckling Sonia. They had also written to Birla seeking action against the lawmakers who were involved in the incident. Chowdhury had also written to Murmu seeking her apology for his remarks.