Independence Day event: Centre did not honour LoP’s post, says Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday, 16 August, hit out at the Centre, saying it did not honour the post of the leader of opposition by allotting Rahul Gandhi a seat in the last rows at the Independence Day event.

Addressing party workers of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Pawar said the threat to the Constitution is still not over even if the BJP did not get a majority in the Lok Sabha polls.

Pawar alleged that Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) does not honour Parliament and claimed he did not come to the House even for a day during the Budget session. The NCP (SP) chief said those in power care less about the parliamentary procedures.

“The Centre did not honour the post of leader of opposition. The leader of the opposition was made to sit in the last rows,” he said.

The prime minister is an institution, so is the leader of the opposition (LoP).

The prestige of the PM’s post has to be maintained. Similarly, the prestige of the post of LoP is equally important, Pawar stressed.

“It cannot be expected that (Mallikarjun) Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, or Rahul Gandhi's prestige will be respected because those in power do not believe in democratic institutions," Pawar said.

The Congress on Thursday said making Gandhi “sit in the fifth row” at the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “pettiness” and lack of respect for democratic traditions.

Pawar said that when he was the LoP during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, his seating arrangement at the I-Day event was alongside the cabinet ministers. He recalled that when Manmohan Singh was the PM, the then LoP Sushma Swaraj was given a seat allotted to cabinet ranks.