Rahul Gandhi seated in 2nd-last row, Congress says pettiness exposed

NEW DELHI: Congress lashed out at the govt for seating Rahul Gandhi in the second last row “contrary to the protocol” that leaders of opposition should be in the front row even as Centre refuted the charge and said the seating was decided as per the table of precedence and in order to honour the Olympians.

AICC spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the seating did not matter to Rahul, but it exposed the pettiness of BJP. “It is fruitless to expect largeheartedness from petty minds,” she said. Congress also called the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru from the list of iconic personalities of freedom struggle in the President’s I-day speech as a “continuing campaign to eliminate him from our history”.

The defence ministry, on being contacted by TOI, said seating was decided as per the table of precedence and protocol. “This time, it was decided to honour medal winners in the recent Olympics. The Congress MP (Gandhi) as well as some Union ministers had to be shifted back as the seats were allocated to Olympic medal winners,” an official said.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said it was time for Modi “to wake up to the new reality post June 4… It’s amazing how uncomfortable the truth can make some people – so much so that they’d rather rearrange the seating than face it.” “This wasn’t an insult to the post of LoP or Rahul Gandhi, it was an insult to people of India, whose voice Rahul represents in Parliament,” he said.

Courtesy : TOI

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