NEW DELHI: Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi made fun of on Wednesday for her loud laughter in the Rajya Sabha during his reply to the President's address, said on Thursday that she would move a privilege notice against him.
Addressing reporters after the Congress women members' delegation met Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu over the Prime Minister's jibe at Chowdhury, the Congress MP said she would take a final call on the privilege motion after discussing the issue with the party leadership.
The women delegation demanded that the Prime Minister should tender an apology as it was anti-women.
"I have decided to move privilege notice against Prime Minister on this issue. I will speak to my party and then decide how to move forward. I am mother of two daughters and a wife. The Prime Minister has denigrated the status of women."
"All women MPs of Congress met the Chairman and demanded an apology from the PM," Kumari Shailja told the media.
NCP leader D.P. Tripathi advised the Congress not to drag the issue but said that his party would go with the Congress if they take any decision.
"For the opposition's unity we will be with Congress, whatever decision they take," Tripathi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a dig at Chowdhury over her loud laughter at his claim that the idea of Aadhaar was conceptualised during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
"Chairman sir, don't stop Renukaji. Ever since seeing Ramayana serial, for the first time I have got an opportunity to see such a laughter," Modi said, to the thumping from the treasury benches.
While replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, Modi said that the Congress keeps saying we brought Aadhaar prompting Chowdhury to laugh at his claim.
She also said about taking similar suit against Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju after he shared a video of mythological character Surpanakha laughing.
Rijiju shared the video on his social media page a day after Modi took a jibe at Chowdhary’s laughter.
In the now-deleted video, Rijiju compared Chowdhary's laughter with Surpanakha.
Though the post didn’t name Chowdhury, she believes it was meant for her. “This is degrading to a woman and highly objectionable. I am going to move a privilege motion,” the Congress MP told the media in the national capital.
During his speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Prime Minister Modi said that on July 7, 1998, in response to a query, the then Home Minister, L.K. Advani, had talked about multi-purpose national identity cards. He added that the same laid the foundation for the Aadhaar programme.
At this, Chowdhury burst into laughter and wanted to respond when Chairman Venkaiah Naidu intervened and stopped her.
(With Inputs from ANI)