Congress MP sparks 'Gentleman' row with Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: A low decibel verbal sparring took place in Lok Sabha during Question Hour between Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani.

The episode began when the minister while replying to a question by BJD member Chandra Sekhar Sahu pertaining to her department, referred to him as "gentleman" instead of "honourable member".

When Chowdhury objected to this along with some other members, and asked the minister to address the MP as "honourable member", Irani retorted back by saying that Chowdhury was trying to please his political masters and score brownie points by making an issue out of nothing.

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was present in the Lok Sabha during the episode.

Irani said that there was nothing wrong with the term "gentleman" and said "I want to tell this gentleman (referring to Chowdhury) that his message has reached his political masters".

When the BJD member while asking the second supplementary question, referred to Irani as "honourable madam", she expressed her gratitude to the member. At this point, Chowdhury again raised the issue as to why she used the term "gentleman".

To this, Irani said that she was being interrupted by the Congress member as a political move, since she was being shown respect by the BJD member.