A DAY after 20 opposition parties declared their intention to skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, the political debate over the matter heated up on Thursday as more non-NDA parties, including the BSP, TDP, and JD(S), voiced their opposition.
BSP leader Mayawati called the boycott decision “inappropriate” in the meanwhile. She stated in a series of tweets in Hindi: “Our party has always supported them on issues important to the country and public interest, rising above party lines, whether it was a Congress government at the Centre in the past or the BJP at the present. In the same vein, we welcome the opening of the new Parliament building.
JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda announced in Bengaluru: “I am attending the inaugural… It is the nation’s property. It is not a private matter for anyone. The money from tax payers was used to construct that spectacular structure. There is no BJP or RSS office here.
“I have fought to uphold the Constitution’s principles. So I can’t bring politics into the Constitutional debate,” he remarked.
According to the TDP, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has asked Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar to speak on behalf of the party at the opening of the new Parliament building.
At a public event in Assam, Shah brought up the subject and claimed that “the Congress and its partners are indulging in petty politics by boycotting.”