West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee’s mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar should be taken in a lighter vein, since it was not meant to be respectful.
TMC supremo Banerjee defended her party colleague saying: "We respect everyone. It was not disrespectful. It was just politically, casually...”.
She also said: “You would not even have known it if Rahul ji had not recorded it."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen shooting a video of the act with his mobile phone.
TMC chief Banerjee was in the Parliament complex on Wednesday to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over pending central funds for the state.
Earlier, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee also said that he never had any intention to hurt or disrespect Dhankhar.
Kalyan Banerjee said that he did not intend to hurt anyone but did not offer any apology for the mimicry act which has been described by Dhankhar as an insult to the post of vice-president, the farmers and his own community.
"Mimicry is not an offence, they (BJP) are trying to change the main issue which is whether suspension of opposition MPs was right," PTI quoted him as having said.
He claimed that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done it in the past.
"Did not have any intention at all to hurt anyone, including the Vice President. Have respect for constitutional positions," he said.
Kalyan Banerjee said that he might have some differences with Dhankhar over a few issues but he meant no disrespect for him.
He noted that Dhankhar had been a governor of his home state West Bengal and like him a lawyer.
With 141 opposition MPs suspended from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for disrupting proceedings, many of them held a protest at Parliament's main entrance for lawmakers on Tuesday.
During the protest, Kalyan Banerjee mimicked Dhankhar's mannerisms amid cheers from his colleagues.
