New Parliament building inauguration row: AAP, TMC among parties to skip grand opening
Several opposition parties including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India(CPI) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have decided to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building on May 28.
DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) has also announced to skip the key event, said party MP Tiruchi Siva.
While Congress is mulling to boycott the event, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena will also skip the inauguration ceremony.
"All opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28th May and we will also do the same," Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut said on Wednesday.
New Parliament building inauguration row:
The row is over 'Who should inaugurate the new Parliament building? Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the new Parliament building on May 28. However, opposition parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and others argue that 'constitutionally, the President of India should do the opening' of the new Parliament.
The Congress Party has slammed the Centre, claiming that the President has "not even been invited" to the inaugural ceremony. Congress said that by failing to invite President Droupadi Murmu, the Centre has degraded the highest constitutional post to "tokenism." Opposition parties have also objected to the inauguration ceremony being held on the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.
Several opposition parties had also skipped the foundation-laying ceremony of the new Parliament building in December 2020.
- With inputs from agencies
