Snubbing and embarrassment

Govt didn't invite Hamid Ansari for inauguration of Parliament's annexe complex by PM Modi

The government on Tuesday was left embarrassed in the Rajya Sabha when the Chair passed strictures against it for not inviting Vice-president M Hamid Ansari for the inauguration of an annexe complex of Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Opposition slammed the government for “insulting” the Upper House by ignoring its presiding officer, who is also the vice-president of India, and Rajya Sabha members at an official function on Monday. “I think the hon’ble chairman should have been invited,” said Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. Kurien said the Rajya Sabha Secretariat had “already written to the Lok Sabha Secretariat regarding the impropriety of not inviting the chairman”.