Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar hoists national flag in new parliament building, Congress chief Kharge skips event

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar on September 17 hoisted the national flag at the ‘Gaj Dwar’ in the new Parliament building, just a day ahead of the Special Session of Parliament.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Arjun Ram Meghwal, attended the ceremony where leaders from other political parties were also present.

Congress president and leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge gave the event a miss due to the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) taking place in Hyderabad over the weekend.

In a letter to Rajya Sabha General Secretary Pramod Chandra Mody, Kharge noted that he received that invite “quite late in the evening” and expressed “disappointment” over the matter.

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“I am writing this letter with a sense of disappointment that I have received your invite for flag hoisting function tomorrow at New Parliament Building only on 15 September 2023 quite late in the evening. This is to inform you that meetings of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee have been scheduled for today and tomorrow i.e. 16 and 17 September 2023, respectively at Hyderabad. Since the programmes had been fixed much in advance, I am presently in Hyderabad to hold the meetings. As I will return to Delhi late night on 17 September 2023, it will not feasible for me to attend the function scheduled for tomorrow morning.”

The Special Session of Parliament will begin for five days from September 18-22. It will have five sittings, Union Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi had announced earlier.