Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday accused the NDA government of violating protocol, which compelled its chief Sharad Pawar to skip the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that there was a specified protocol for seating VIPs and the government allocated a seat in the fifth row to Pawar, instead of the front row.
“It was the responsibility of the government to ensure that proper protocol was observed when inviting a person of the stature of Pawar, who heads a national political party, and has served as a senior cabinet minister in the Centre for years,” Malik told mediapersons.
He was reacting to intense speculation on the probable reasons why Pawar decided to opt out at the last minute from Modi’s mega-swearing-in event in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday evening. (IANS)
