Congress‘ Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is facing heat from the BJP over his comment “Rashtrapatni” while referring to newly-elected President Droupadi Murmu. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP MP Smriti Irani voiced their protests at the Lok Sabha against Chowdhury’s comments and demanded an apology from Congress’ interim President, Sonia Gandhi.

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Chowdhury is currently the Congress’ Lok Sabha leader and Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee. The 66-year-old politician won his Member of Parliament seat from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal, a feat he has been repeating since 1999. From 1996-1999, he served as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He won this seat while contesting the elections behind bars, as he was accused of being involved in the murder of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader’s relative.

In the year 2012, Chowdhury was first appointed to the Indian Government’s Cabinet of Ministers, where he was given the post of Minister of State for Railways. He is currently serving as Congress’ Lok Sabha leader as a result of the party failing to convince Rahul Gandhi to take up the post.

A Congress veteran, Chowdhury had first joined the party during the heydays of Rajiv Gandhi. Interestingly, his political career began with brief stints with the Left Front parties, Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc. However, a difference of opinions made Chowdhury switch to the Congress. He was elected as the President of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2014, and was later replaced by another veteran leader, Somen Mitra. However, post Mitra’s death in 2020, the party once again appointed Chowdhury to the position.

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Chowdhury’s personal life is mired with tragedies. While his daughter, Shreyashi Chowdhury, succumbed to injuries after she jumped from a South Kolkata highrise in 2006, his wife, Arpita Chowdhury, passed away in 2019 due to medical complications.