Sonia Gandhi faces privilege motion over 'poor thing' remark on President Droupadi Murmu

The comments, the MPs alleged, were meant to "lower the dignity of the highest office".

"We write this with great dismay about certain unparliamentary, derogatory, and demeaning remarks recently made by Sonia Gandhi, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), against the President of India, which warrant serious consideration and disciplinary action," the notice said.

"It is with deep concern that we highlight this statement... which appears to demean the stature and dignity of the President of India, the highest Constitutional authority of our nation."

"Such remarks not only undermine the dignity of the office but also violate the sanctity of parliamentary conventions," the BJP MPs said in their letter to Rajya Sabha Chair Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The MPs stated that Sonia Gandhi "in no way get the benefit of parliamentary privileges", citing a Supreme Court judgement that said abuse of privilege by an MP was "difficult to digest".

"Furthermore, even the Parliamentary Ethics and Code of Conduct prescribes that no member utter defamatory words against others... this assumes significance when it concerns the President of India, and that too, when spoken about within the Parliamentary premises."

The row erupted after a video clip showed Sonia Gandhi, speaking informally with her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, commenting on President Murmu's apparent exhaustion following her speech last week.

"The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end... she could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi was heard saying.

The BJP had termed the remarks as derogatory and since then it triggered as the latest flashpoint between the ruling party and the Congress.

As the backlash mounted, Priyanka said her mother did not remark with any disrespect to the President.

"My mother is a 78-year-old lady, she has simply said that 'the President read such a long speech and she must have been tired, poor thing'. She fully respects the President of India. I think it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is twisted by the media. They both are two respected people and older than us. She means no disrespect. BJP should first apologise for pushing into a gorge," she had said.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan had earlier criticised Sonia Gandhi's ‘poor thing’ remark and said it 'hurt the dignity' of the high office.

"While reacting to the media on the Hon’ble President’s Address to the Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable. These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak," the Rashtraparti Bhavan said in a statement.

"Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring," the statement said.

"The President’s office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression," the statement said.

The office said the comments are in 'poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable'.