VP never attends, RS Secretariat on row over Nehru event

New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) A day after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh raised the issue of absentation of the Rajya Sabha Chairman during tribute paying ceremony to Jawaharlal Nehru, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has issued a rejoinder and said that the Vice President never attends such events.The RS Secretariat said, "it is hereby stated that Vice President of India never attends such ceremonies organized in the central hall of parliament, as a matter of convention. It was misleading to suggest that Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu skipped the ceremony on November 14. The misleading reports have caused deep distress to the Vice President."The statement said he was out of Delhi on Sunday and paid tributes to the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.Jairam Ramesh on Sunday had alleged that during the traditional function in Parliament to mark the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Chairman RS and the central ministers were not present.In a tweet Jairam said, "Extraordinary scene today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn the Central Hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single Minister present.""Can it get more atrocious than this?!"November 14 was Nehru's birth anniversary, and the Congress paid tributes to him, but was irked with the absence of prominent people in the customary function in Parliament.
--IANS miz/skp/

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