PTI
 
New Delhi, Oct 28: Perhaps for the first time in Parliamentary history, a top diplomat will appear before law makers in New Delhi on Monday when he is expected to undergo grilling over his reported controversial remarks that those oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal are "headless chickens".

India's ambassador to the US Ronen Sen, who made the controversial remarks is now here to appear before the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Sen will appear before the Rajya Sabha privileges committee on November 2, 2007.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had referred the issue, which rocked the Parliament for several days, to the Committee sometime ago after receipt of a reply by the External Affairs Ministry to which Sen had expressed unqualified apology for the remarks.

The Ministry had pleaded that in view of the unqualified apology tendered by him, the matter be closed.

In view of the strong feelings of the MPs on the issue, the Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman had referred it to the privileges committees. The Lok Sabha Committee is headed by Congress MP V Kishorechandra Deo.

A decision to summon Sen before the privileges committee of the Rajya Sabha was taken recently at a meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman of Upper House K Rahman Khan.

At the height of the controversy over the opposition to the nuclear deal from Left and opposition parties, Sen had used the word "headless chickens" to describe those commenting against the deal.

Both the Houses had witnessed uproarious scenes for a couple of days amid demands that Sen be summoned to the bar of the House.

However, when the MPs raised the issue in Parliament attacking him, he had said that he had used the remarks to refer to journalists and not MPs but still he had offered unconditional apology to them if it had hurt their feelings.