New Delhi: Opposition parties have written a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkiah Naidu in protest against the seating arrangments during the oath-taking ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu.
In the letter signed by several opposition leaders, it is alleged that the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was made to sit not commiserate with the position he held. "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," read the letter.
"Letter submitted to Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha by all Opposition Parties (including TMC) just now," tweeted Congress leader Jairam Ramesh while sharing a copy of the letter. Meanwhile, many of the senior BJP leaders, its allies, and even Chief Ministers from non-BJP ruled States skipped the oath-taking ceremony. Whenever a new President is sworn in, it is customary that chief ministers of all the states attend the function.
Leader of BJP's ally in Bihar (JD U) and incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was among those who skipped the ceremony. The absence of Kumar at the swearing-in programme 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 too skipped the programme. Sources in the BJP, however, said that due to health issues Advani was not able to attend the oath-taking ceremony. Many of the non-NDA Chief Ministers skipped the ceremony. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao skipped the ceremony.
All these Chief Ministers supported opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential election who was defeated by Murmu in the polls that witnessed a lot of cross-voting as well. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son 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, members of 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 oath-taking programme.
