Trinamool to boycott inauguration programme of new Parliament building

Kolkata, May 23 (IANS) Trinamool Congress's leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien on Tuesday announced that his party will be boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

O'Brien announced this in a tweet just hours after party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met her counterparts of the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann respectively. O'Brien also made it clear that the reason for the boycott is because the inauguration of the new Parliament building was a programme to project an individual.

"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," his tweet read.

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