Smriti Irani Must Apologise To President, Says Congress' Adhir Chowdhury

Mr Chowdhury issued a written apology to President Murmu over his 'Rashtrapatni' remark which caused a political furore across the country.

Days after his controversy for referring to President Droupadi Murmu as 'Rashtrapatni', Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, calling on Union Minister Smriti Irani to issue an "unconditional apology" for yelling the name 'Droupadi Murmu' without using the prefix 'President.'

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury triggered massive outrage by the BJP after his 'Rashtrapatni' remark, which the Congress leader said was a "slip of tongue as not very good at Hindi."

However, the BJP had demanded an apology from Mr Chowdhury along with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker, the Congress MP said, "I wish to reiterate that it was because of a slip of the tongue that the name of our President Madam was dragged into the unnecessary and unwarranted controversy. This inadvertent mistake happened because I am not very good at Hindi. I have regretted my mistake and have apologized to the President."