Digvijaya Singh, veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, suggested on Friday that the new Parliament building should be opened by President Droupadi Murmu.Digvijay’s remarks came in the backdrop of the ongoing row over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled for May 28. Congress and other opposition parties slammed the Centre after it announced the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The opposition parties stressed that President Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament building.Speaking on the row over President not being called for inaugurating the new Parliament, he said, “This is an affront to the post of President. We still have time, inauguration must be done by the President.”
PM Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will dedicate to the nation the new Parliament building on May 28.On May 24, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to open Parliament without President Droupadi Murmu, calling it a “insult to the country’s highest constitutional post.”
“Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament or invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country’s highest constitutional post,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet. Parliament is not built on ego, but on constitutional values.”
At least 21 opposition parties have chosen to protest the Prime Minister’s plan to preside over the inauguration event rather than President Droupadi Murmu.Meanwhile, amid the boycott call by the opposition, the Centre has received a confirmed list of 25 political parties, including some which are not a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), that will participate in the inauguration ceremony.
Apart from the BJP, several parties in the NDA including AIADMK, Apna Dal, the Republican Party of India, the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena, NPP, and NPF have confirmed their attendance for the function on Sunday.
Several neutral parties, including Biju Janata Dal, TDP, and YSRCP will be present for the inauguration.Shiromani Akali Dal, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, and JDS are among the opposition groups that will attend the celebration on Sunday.