President’s oath-taking ceremony: Oppn alleges protocol violation in seat for Kharge; baseless allegation, says govt

The government, however, denied the charge and accused the Opposition of misleading the people by levelling such “baseless” allegations. Opposition leaders said Kharge was seated on the extreme left of the front row.

Opposition members in Rajya Sabha wrote to Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, expressing “shock” at what they called “deliberate disrespect shown” to Kharge. A similar letter was sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by Congress leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

“Today, at the swearing-in ceremony of the President, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was made to sit on a seat not commensurate with the position he holds. We are writing to news our shock and protest at this deliberate disrespect shown to a very senior leader, violating the warrant of precedence and not in accordance with protocol courtesies due to him,” the letter said.

Among the signatories of the letter sent to the Rajya Sabha Chairman were members of the Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP, CPM, CPI and the Trinamool Congress. The one sent by Chowdhury were signed by several Congress Lok Sabha MPs.

Reacting to the charge, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal accused the Opposition of trying to mislead the people by levelling baseless allegations. “I want to tell the House that two days ago (on Saturday)…there was a function organised by Parliament. In that function, the Leader of Opposition was given a seat next to the Prime Minister in the Central Hall of Parliament. Prime Minister, Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition…all three were given seats next to each other,” Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha.

“But the Leader of Opposition did not attend the programme…it was the farewell of a Constitutional authority. The Chairman and the Speaker had sent out the invitation, but the seat given to the Leader of the Opposition was empty,” he said.

“In today’s programme, the seating arrangement was made according to the Home Ministry’s order of precedence.. warrant of protocol. In that (the table of precedence), the Leader of the Opposition is ranked seventh…If we go by that order…the Leader of the Opposition should have been seated on the third row…when we saw the Leader of the Opposition on the the first row, we felt happy…that instead of the third row in the order of precedence…he has been given a seat in the first row…But when he raised objection…that he was seated in a corner…the staff requested him to shift to a middle seat. It happened before my eyes…he was requested to move to a middle seat but he refused,” he said.

According to the table of precedence, cabinet ministers, chief ministers within their respective states, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, former Prime Ministers and leaders of opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are ranked seventh. Chief ministers outside their states are ranked eighth in the order.

Opposition leaders said some of the chief ministers, including Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, were seated in the front row.

Attacking the Opposition for raising such an issue, Goyal said this shows the mindset…“they don’t have any issue…and they don’t want to let the House function”.

Government sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was given a prominent seat and Kharge was also given a seat in the front row. They said Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was seated in the front row on Saturday when Parliament organised a farewell for Ram Nath Kovind.

Union Minister Prahlad Joshi said there was no violation of protocol in the oath-taking ceremony of the President. “In the order of precedence, leader of opposition is equivalent to a cabinet minister. Strictly going by that, his seat comes in the third row. But to respect seniority of Kharge ji, he was provided seat in the first row itself,” Joshi said.