Smriti Irani jabs Congress as Mallikarjun Kharge skips flag hoisting at new Parliament

The Union minister accused the the grand old party of ‘not being proud’ about the tricolour being hoisted at the new complex.

Published on: Sep 17, 2023, 18:50:39 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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Taking a jibe at the Congress over its national president Mallikarjun Kharge skipping Sunday's flag hoisting ceremony at the new Parliament, Union minister Smriti Irani accused the grand old party of ‘not being proud’ about the tricolour being hoisted at the new complex.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar hoists national flag at Gaj Dwar in new Parliament building in Delhi.

“Today is an auspicious day. The nation's Parliament is the pride of the country. The national flag which you talk about hoisting is the flag for which many people and our soldiers laid their lives. As a citizen, if we get the opportunity to hoist our national flag at the Parliament, it will be a matter of pride for us. The answer to why the Congress party does not experience that pride is with the Gandhi family, not me,” Irani remarked.

On Saturday, Kharge wrote to Rajya Sabha general secretary PC Mody, informing the latter that he would not be able to attend the ceremony as he would be in Hyderabad on September 16 and 17 for a 2-day meeting of the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC).

However, other leaders of the party, including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, attended the event.

Earlier, Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, missed the Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort, though he unfurled the tricolour at the Congress headquarters. Then, last week, his name did not figure in the list of invitees for President Droupadi Murmu's dinner for world leaders who were in the national capital for the September 9 and 10 G 20 Summit.

Congress and its opposition allies also boycotted the inauguration of the new Parliament, accusing prime minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated it on May 28, of ‘insulting’ the President by inaugurating it himself instead of inviting the President – the head of state – to do the honours.

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