AAP to abstain from new Parliament's inauguration after Trinamool due to president being 'insulted'

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) declared on Tuesday that it would abstain from the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 as it would be disrespectful to President Droupadi Murmu to not have been invited.

Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha member of the AAP, stated: "Not inviting Her Excellency President Droupadi Murmu for inauguration of Parliament House is a gross insult to her. This is also an insult to the Dalit, tribal and derived class of the society. AAP will boycott the inauguration programme in protest of (Prime Minister) Modi not inviting the President"

Earlier in the day, the Trinamool Congress announced a boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

In a tweet, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien said: "Parliament is not just a new building; it is an establishment with old traditions, values, precedents and rules - it is the foundation of Indian democracy. PM Modi doesn't get that. For him, Sunday's inauguration of the new building is all about I, me, myself. So count us out".

The Trinamool has already raised objections about the choice of date for the inauguration of the new Parliament building. According to the leadership, the occasion of the inauguration of the new building should be on

the occasion of Independence Day on August 15, instead of May 28 which is the occasion of the birth anniversary of RSS patriarch V.D. Savarkar.

According to the Trinamool leadership, the Union government has also kept the opposition in the dark over the fate of the old Parliament building.

Even Congress is likely to boycott the inauguration of the new building.

Party sources said that a decision is likely to be taken on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Tuesday, Congress General secretary communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh also responded to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and said, "SUV - Self-Usurped Vishwaguru - has already annexed the Parliament for self-aggrandisement. But surely, there is a fundamental difference between inaugurating an Annexe where officials work and a library which is hardly used on the one hand, and inaugurating not just the Temple of Democracy but its sanctorum itself."

He was responding to Puri's remarks that in August 1975, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Annexe, and later in 1987 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated the Parliament Library.

A row has erupted over the inauguration of the new Parliament building after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi demanded that President Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament House instead of PM Modi.

A war of words has erupted between Congress and the BJP over the inauguration of the New Parliament House by PM Modi on May 28.

With inputs from IANS