Commenting on the stalemate in Delhi, Sen was quoted as having said: “If you really look at it (the 123 Agreement), every single (concern) has been met...What is in the agreement which they are not satisfied with?”

“It has been approved here (in Washington) by the President, and there (in New Delhi) it’s been approved by the Indian Cabinet. So why do you have all this running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, and these little storms in a tea-cup?...I can understand (such a debate) immediately after independence...but 60 years after Independence! I am really bothered that 60 years after Independence, they are so insecure — that we have not grown up, this lack of confidence and lack of self-respect,” Sen was quoted as having said.

Such quotes angered the MPs who called it “derogatory,” with BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra saying his party has moved a privilege motion against Sen and that the envoy should be recalled.

Sen clarified later in the afternoon in a statement read out by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the “comment about running round like headless chicken looking for a comment here or a comment there was a tactless observation on some of my media friends and most certainly not with reference to any honourable Member of Parliament.”

But neither the Opposition nor the Left was buying this. Sitaram Yechury said in the Rajya Sabha that “the next logical step should follow...this gentleman cannot represent India in the US”.

Sen, however, claimed that many of the comments were either “misunderstood or misquoted or quoted out of context” and that some were an “off-the-record” conversation in his “personal capacity” not reflecting “the positions of the government”.

Earlier, Mukherjee assured the House that he had asked Sen to clarify and that “these comments, if made by our Ambassador, and reported correctly, are totally unwarranted and unacceptable”. He said: “Nobody can accuse others who hold divergent views...I regret the alleged comments which have hurt the feelings of the hon’ble members”.

With both Opposition and Left MPs in no mood to allow the House to function, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee even assured the MPs that “if he has said so, I will take action, I assure you, no one can go scot free. Parliament of India is not powerless.”

In his clarification, Sen admitted: “I fully recognise that such personal views, even in a privateconversation, should have been expressed with better judgement and due decorum.”

Later, I&B Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi also joined issue and commented on Sen’s clarification that the reference to “headless chickens” was directed at the media by saying: “Those who treat media as headless chickens, their brains have become a vegetable.”