Mallikarjun Kharge said he received the invite for the function only in the late evening. (FILE)
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said he would not be able to attend the flag hoisting function in the new Parliament building on Sunday and expressed disappointment over getting the invite "quite late".
He wrote to Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody saying that he received the invite for the function only in the late evening of September 15.
"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 September 15, 2023, quite late in the evening," the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said in his letter.
Mr Kharge informed the Rajya Sabha secretary general that meetings of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee have been scheduled for September 16 and 17 at Hyderabad.
The Congress president said the programmes had been fixed much in advance and he is currently in Hyderabad to hold meetings and will return to Delhi late on the night of September 17.
"It will not be feasible for me to attend the function scheduled for tomorrow morning," Kharge said.
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar will hoist the national flag at the new Parliament building on Sunday.
The flag hoisting ceremony will take place a day before the five-day Parliament session beginning Monday which may see parliamentary proceedings shift from the old to the adjacent new building.
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