New Delhi: Although it's customary that Chief Ministers of all the states attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President of India, Monday's program at the Central Hall of the Parliament was marked by the absence of many Chief Ministers when the country's first woman tribal leader Droupadi Murmu took oath as India's 15th President.
Apart from Chief Ministers of several non-BJP ruled States, many of the senior BJP leaders and the party's State allies skipped the oath-taking ceremony. Leader of BJP's ally in Bihar (JD U) and incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipped the oath-taking ceremony of Murmu.
The absence of Kumar at the swearing-in program that took place at the Central Hall of the Parliament has once again exposed that "all is not well" in the BJP-JD (U) coalition government in Bihar. However, Kumar is not the only person who skipped the oath-taking ceremony. Even senior BJP leader and former deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani skipped the program. Sources in the BJP, however, said that due to health issues Advani was not able to attend the event.
Many of the non-NDA Chief Ministers skipped the oath-taking ceremony. Notable among them are-Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Since all these Chief Ministers supported opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential election who was defeated by Murmu following a massive cross-voting.
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However, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former president Rahul Gandhi, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot among others attended the oath-taking ceremony. For the oath-taking ceremony chairman of Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Speaker of Lok Sabha, and members of the Council of Ministers were present.
Governors, Chief Ministers, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, MPs, and principal civil and military officers of the government of India were also invited to the program. Meanwhile, a major controversy has erupted over the seating arrangements of the opposition parties during the oath-taking ceremony. The opposition leaders wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkiah Naidu protesting over such arrangements.
"Today, at the swearing-in ceremony of the Hon'ble President, Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was made to sit in a seat not commensurate with the position he holds... We are writing to express our shock and protest at this deliberate disrespect shown to a very senior leader violating the warrant of precedence and not in accordance with protocol courtesies due to him," the letter said. "The letter of protest was submitted to the Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha by all opposition parties including TMC," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
