President, not PM, should inaugurate new Parliament building: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the President should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly-constructed Parliament building on May 28.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Modi on Thursday last and extended an invitation to inaugurate the new building, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister".
The inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 coincides with the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and several opposition parties have targeted the government over it.
The Congress has called it a "complete insult" to the country's founding fathers.
The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
In case of a joint sitting of both the Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.
The prime minister had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020.
The present Parliament building was completed in 1927.
नए संसद भवन का उद्घाटन राष्ट्रपति जी को ही करना चाहिए, प्रधानमंत्री को नहीं!
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2023
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Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee holds roadshow in south Kolkata to end campaign
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee undertook a roadshow in south Kolkata spanning over six kilometres on Monday afternoon at the fag end of campaigning for the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly election.
The TMC chief was accompanied by party Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose and candidates Aroop Biswas and Debasish Kumar from Tollygunge and Rashbehari, respectively.
People waiting on the roadside and on rooftops and balconies waved at Banerjee as she greeted them with folded hands, walking briskly, as her party compatriots had a tough time keeping pace with her.
The chief minister is contesting from the Bhabanipur assembly seat, where she is pitted against her bete noire, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, who defeated her in the 2021 elections in Nandigram.
Banerjee was subsequently elected from Bhabanipur in a byelection.
The roadshow started at Sukanta Setu in the Jadavpur area and culminated at Gopalnagar crossing, past her Kalighat residence, with two small stopovers in between.
TMC flags, festoons, cutouts of Banerjee and banners with slogans in favour of the candidates adorned the roadsides through which the road show passed and culminated at around 5.30 pm.
A large number of TMC supporters participated in the roadshow that Banerjee conducted to end her campaign for the 2026 assembly election in West Bengal.
