The first day of the monsoon session of Jharkhand Assembly witnessed noisy scenes with Opposition BJP members staging a protest against Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary’s remark against President Droupadi Murmu.

The BJP members holding placards protested against Congress leaders at the Assembly entrance. The BJP members shouted slogans demanding an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the issue.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has sparked a massive controversy by calling President Draupadi Murmu ‘Rashtrapatni’. On Thursday Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned after a huge uproar over this issue. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury admitted that it was his ‘mistake’ to call President Draupadi Murmu ‘Rashtrapatni’. However, the Congress leader has refused to apologize and said that the ruling party is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

At the Assembly protesting against Congress leader's remark, BJP member Anant Kumar Ojha said that by making a remark against Murmu, the Congress leader has disrespected tribal President who in the last seventy years has got the chance to hold the highest Constitutional post. Ojha said that people of this Country and state will not tolerate insults to the tribal President. Ojha also demanded that the House should pass a resolution condemning the remark.

However, the ruling party legislators claimed that the matter is not of their house. State Health Minister Banna Gupta said that BJP was unnecessarily raising the issue even after the non-Hindi speaking Congress MP has apologized for his mistake and has asked for forgiveness from the President.

“When the Bengali speaking Congress MP has accepted his mistake and apologized for his unintended remark there is no point in repeatedly protesting against it. The BJP leaders should stop making a mountain out of a molehill,” Gupta said.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato began the house proceedings by congratulating Droupadi Murmu for becoming India’s first tribal woman President and wished her on behalf of the assembly. He said that with a tribal woman holding the post of President it will strengthen women empowerment and will help fulfill rights of dalits and tribals in the country.

In the Presidential election, Murmu got more 10 MLAs votes than the fixed figure in the election. In the election, Yashwant Sinha got only nine votes in Jharkhand.

After the announcement of political parties and MLAs, there was support of 60 MLAs in favor of Draupadi. The 60 MLAs vote included 25 from BJP, JMM 30 votes,  AJSU 2, Independent two (Saryu Roy and Amit Yadav) and lone NCP MLA (Kamlesh Singh). However, when votes of MLAs from different states were counted the figure reached to 70 indicating that 10 MLAs from Congress or RJD camp voted in support of Murmu. One vote of either Congress or RJD was declared as invalid. Opposition pick candidate Yashwant Sinha received only nine votes from State.