Congress & AIMIM firm on boycott of new Parliament building inauguration

Nagpur: Senior national leaders of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Congress party who were in Nagpur on Saturday said they were firm on their decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building because of what they termed was a breach of protocol.
Also See: New Parliament Building Inauguration Live
PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.
Asaduddin Owaisi, Lok Sabha MP and president of AIMIM, said the honour of inaugurating the building should go to the Speaker. “The custodian of the Lok Sabha is the Speaker, not the Prime Minister. That’s why the Lok Sabha has a different secretariat as well. These things are well defined in the constitution where we have separation of powers of the executive, legislature and judiciary. Unfortunately, PM Modi wants to step into every jurisdiction,” said Owaisi, who was in city for a party event.
“If the Speaker Om Birla inaugurates it, then we will definitely go. The PM has to now show a big heart and let the Speaker do the honours,” said Owaisi.
Responding to the jibes from BJP who called Owaisi part of the ‘boycott gang’, the Hyderabad MP said, “These are the so-called nationalists whose only job is to appear on TV debates from 6m to 9pm.”
Congress national spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said his party will go for the inauguration only if the President of India is invited to do the inauguration. “President Drapadi Murmu is the first citizen of our country and she is the one who should be doing the honours. But it seems the BJP cannot digest the fact that a woman can rise to such a high post and then also inaugurate the Parliament building,” said Vallabh.
“In fact, PM Modi can do some small inauguration in the building next week and get his name on the board too,” said Vallabh.
The BJP counter-attacked Congress by saying that Indira Gandhi as PM had inaugurated the Annexe building. Vallabh said, “This is an illogical argument. It was an annexe building, this is the actual main Parliament building. You cannot compare the two. If the President of India inaugurates the new building, then we will be there in the first line applauding.”