Madhu Koda at Congress Bhavan on Wednesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Oct. 31: For chief minister Madhu Koda, Mrs Gandhi is Sonia.

He took the name of the “madam” thrice today while referring to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a function organised to mark the latter’s death anniversary.

After paying floral tributes to Indira Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the state Congress headquarters, the chief minister confused between the former Prime Minister and Sonia.

While talking to newspersons around 11.30am today after the programme, Koda slipped thrice.

Describing Sonia Gandhi as a great leader, Koda said, she laid down her life fighting for the nation.

Koda took Sonia Gandhi’s name thrice: “... today it is also Sonia Gandhi’s martyrdom day.... Sonia Gandhi laid down her life fighting for the nation ... Sonia Gandhi sustained bullets in her chest....”.

The chief minister though has two press advisors, none of them were seen trying to shield Koda while he was “slipping”. Nor the chief minister’s personal staff members present at the spot bothered to rectify his “slip of the tongue”.

The slip hat-trick of Koda evoked sharp criticism from his political foes.

“Sonia Gandhi is perhaps the master of Koda’s mind now. She keeps haunting him everywhere. It shows how helpless is the Jharkhand chief minister. It also exposes the real face of political parties supporting the Koda government,” said JD(U) legislator Radha Krishna Kishore.

Congress’s state unit spokesperson Alok Kumar Dube, however, maintained that Koda did not make any such mistake in his address inside the Congress office after paying floral tributes to Indira Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

“Koda said to fight Naxalism and terrorism, the country needs to follow the path shown by Indira Gandhi and Sardar Patel. To wipe out Naxalism, concerted efforts were needed from all corners. It is high time all of us pledged to fight out Naxalism. This is only possible through consolidated efforts from different quarters,” Dube added.

But it was natural for Dube to miss the slip. The Congress heavyweights, including state unit president Pradip Kumar Balmuchu, who brought Koda to the party office to “prove a point”, were traceless soon after the “formalities” were over. They didn’t even show the courtesy of seeing him off.