Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s remark on President Droupadi Murmu calling her “Rashtrapatni” sparked uproar in the state assembly on Thursday as BJP members trooped into the Well and shouted slogans against the Congress.
During Question Hour, the BJP members of the Assembly staged a protest with placards inside the house. As the uproar continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 4 pm. Accusing the Congress of demeaning the President, the BJP demanded an apology from Sonia Gandhi from Rahul Gandhi.
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Both BJD and Congress members were silent in the House when the BJP MLAs were protesting.
Though Speaker BK Arukha urged the agitating MLAs to allow the House to proceed with the Question Hour, they did not pay any heed.
His assurance to the BJP MLAs that they would be allowed to raise the issue during the Zero Hour also did not yield any result. Unable to run the House, the speaker adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm.
After the adjournment of the House, the BJP members staged a protest on the assembly premises and demanded an unconditional apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi for Chowdhury’s “unacceptable” remark against the president.
“The Congress does not know how to respect others. This is evident from Adhir Ranjan’s statement.” “The Congress has not only insulted the president of India, but also Odisha’s daughter. Sonia Gandhi must take action against Adhir Ranjan immediately”, Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi of BJP said,
BJD MLA Raj Kishore Das from Murmu’s Mayurbhanj district also condemned the Congress leader’s remark.