The ninth day of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament on Thursday, 28 July, witnessed frequent adjournments amid ruckus created by MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding an apology from Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for addressing President Droupadi Murmu as 'rashtrapatni' on Wednesday, 27 July.
Chowdhury, however, replied that his remark was a 'mistake'.
"I can't even think of insulting the President. It was just a mistake. If the President felt bad, I will personally meet her and apologise. They can hang me if they want," he said.
Amidst protests in both houses and suspension of MPs, here are the 10 key developments that transpired in Parliament:
The BJP MPs protested in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha demanding an apology from Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for addressing the President Droupadi Murmu as 'rashtrapatni'. Chowdhury said it was a 'mistake'.
The BJP members also targeted Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for Chowdhury's remark and asked her to apologise. Union minister Smriti Irani said that Sonia Gandhi 'sanctioned the humiliation of the president', while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Chowdhury's remark was 'a deliberate sexist insult.'
Sonia Gandhi said that "he (Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury) has already apologised."
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also added to the argument saying that the finance minister is now back a for parliament proceedings and we are ready to have discussions in the Parliament, but opposition's intention is 'to create disturbances and disruptions in the house.
The uproar escalated when Sonia Gandhi was talking to senior leader Rama Devi, where they were approached by Smriti Irani, to whom Sonia allegedly said that "You don't talk to me".
Three more MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha on Thursday for rest of the week. The suspended MPs include independent MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, AAP's Sushil Kumar Gupta and Sandeep Kumar Pathak.
Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur informed the Rajya Sabha that the government spent Rs 3,339.49 crore on advertisements in the print and electronic media over a five-year period from 2017.
Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that as many as 395 non-performing and corrupt Central government officers were prematurely retired from the service between July 2014 and June 2022.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the parliament that the government does not propose to set up a committee to implement a uniform civil code (UCC) and added it has asked the Law Commission to examine various issues on the matter and make recommendations.
Power deficit came down from 2 per cent in April to 0.4 per cent in May and 0.6 per cent in June despite significant rise in demand of electricity, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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