Adhir Chowdhury apologises to President Murmu for his 'rashtrapatni' remark

New Delhi: The Congress's Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday apologized to President Droupadi Murmu for his insensitive remarks about her that had led to a political storm and triggered a bitter spat between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union minister Smriti Irani in Parliament on Thursday.

"I am writing to express my regret for having mistakenly used an incorrect word to describe the position you hold. I assure you that it was a slip of the tongue. I apologise and request you to accept the same," Chowdhury wrote in a letter to President Murmu, the country's first President of the tribal community.

The BJP had also demanded an apology from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after her party leader made the comment.

Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, had used the "Rashtrapatni" remark while talking to reporters during his party's protests over a host of issues.

The BJP insisted the comment by Chowdhury was not a slip of the tongue as claimed by the Congress leader.

"It was not a slip of the tongue. If you watch the clip, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury clearly (referred to President Murmu as) Rashtrapati twice, then he called her Rashtrapatni," Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told news agency ANI. "Such matters should not be taken lightly," he added.

Chowdhury, however, has held on to his claim that the comment was on account of a "slip of the tongue" due to the language barrier - that he is a Bengali and not proficient in Hindi - which the BJP has punctured as a bad excuse.

When the controversy erupted on Wednesday, Chowdhury had made it clear he would not apologize to the BJP but would meet with President Murmu and apologise to her directly "a hundred times" if she says she was hurt by his remark.