Cong chief watches R-Day from sixth row, Cong cries foul

New Delhi: Congress leaders are up in arms over the seating arrangements of party chief Rahul Gandhi during the Republic Day Parade. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attended the Republic Day Parade and was seated in the sixth row, prompting an angry reaction from the Congress which accused the BJP-led Central government of indulging in “cheap politics” and setting aside well-established traditions.

Along with Mr Gandhi, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was also seated in the sixth row. While government sources said that according to warrant of precedence the Leader of the Opposition is accorded a seat in the seventh row.

Congress communications chief Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “The Modi government’s cheap politics is for all to see. The Congress president was deliberately made to sit in the sixth row, after initially assigning him a fourth-row seat, at the Republic Day celebrations by the arrogant rulers, who set aside all past traditions. For us the celebration of the Constitution is foremost.”

Former Prime Ministers H.D. Deve Gowda and Dr Manmohan Singh were seen seated in the front row, followed by Union ministers Smriti Irani and Thawarchand Gehlot.

Interestingly, the Congress chief fared better in the evening at the At Home hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan where he was placed in the second row. He was also seen greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi