India, Aug. 16 -- West Bengal BJP MLA Sumitro Chatterjee, a direct descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, on Sunday sought an unconditional apology from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over an alleged incident involving the national song 'Vande Mataram' at the party's Independence Day event.

Chatterjee, who is a descendant of Chattopadhyay, the author of 'Vande Mataram', said in a letter to Gandhi that the alleged incident during the Congress headquarters' celebrations on Saturday was "not merely unfortunate but a shameless repetition of a historical mistake".

He said he was writing as an "ordinary citizen, a patriot and a direct descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay" and expressed "deep pain, emptiness and anger" over what he de...