New Delhi, Jan 31 : BJP President and Union Minister J.P. Nadda has strongly condemned senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's reference to President Droupadi Murmu as a "poor thing" while commenting on her address to Parliament.

Expressing outrage over the remark, Nadda took to social media platform X to issue a scathing response.

"I and every BJP Karyakarta STRONGLY CONDEMN the usage of the phrase 'poor thing' by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for the Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu Ji. The deliberate usage of such words exposes the elitist, anti-poor, and anti-tribal mindset of the Congress Party," Nadda stated.

He further demanded an unconditional apology from the Congress party, saying, "I demand that the Congress Party unreservedly apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India."

The controversy erupted earlier in the day when Sonia Gandhi, a veteran Congress leader and former party president, made the remark while speaking to reporters outside Parliament.

Asked for her reaction to President Murmu's address, Sonia Gandhi responded, "The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing."

She was accompanied by her children, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, both Members of Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi, too, dismissed the President's speech, saying, "Boring. No comments. Repeating the same thing again and again."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a sharp attack on the Gandhis, calling their remarks an insult to the dignity of the President and a reflection of Congress' "feudal mindset".

President Murmu, during her address earlier in the day, said the government has worked towards lifting the economy out of "policy paralysis" despite challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic and global conflicts.

She also said that the third term of the Modi government is seeing work being done at thrice the pace of previous regimes.

The President praised the government's efforts in the aviation and railway sectors and said it is working towards modernisation in the agriculture sector and aims to make it self-reliant.

She also shared concerns over digital fraud and cybercrime that pose challenges to national security.

/IANS