New Delhi: Congress and other opposition parties have questioned the absence of the Rajya Sabha Chairman, the Lok Sabha Speaker, and union ministers at a traditional event marking the birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru at the central hall in Parliament on November 14.
Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, termed the alleged absence of presiding officers and union ministers at the event attended by congress president Sonia Gandhi as, ‘atrocious’.
“Extraordinary scenes today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portrait adorns the central hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single minister was present. Can it get more atrocious than this?!,” Ramesh said on Twitter.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was in Jaipur to address a special session for children in Rajasthan legislative assembly to mark Children’s day while Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu was in Venkatachalam in Nellor in Andhra Pradesh to attend the 20th-anniversary celebration of Swarna Bharat Trust.
A floral tribute was paid to Nehru in the Central Hall of Parliament on the occasion of his birth anniversary on November 14. The event was attended by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Deputy Leader of Opposition Anand Sharma among others.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his tribute to Nehru on his birth anniversary on Twitter.
