RS Chairman Dhankhar Hoists National Flag At New Parliament Building

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday hoisted the national flag at the new Parliament building here. Flanked by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, he hoisted the flag atop the "Gaja Dwar" of the new Parliament building.

The hoisting ceremony takes place a day before the five-day Parliament session begins Monday which may see parliamentary proceedings shift from the old to the adjacent new building. Earlier, Dhankhar and Birla were separately accorded a guard of honour by the CRPF's Parliament Duty Group.

"It is a historic moment, Bharat is witnessing epochal change. The world is in total recognition of might, power and contribution of Bharat," Dhankhar told reporters after the ceremony. Union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Arjun Ram Meghwal, attended the ceremony where leaders from other political parties were also present.

Dhankhar and Birla interacted with the guests after the event as a CRPF band played in the background. Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had said on Saturday that he would not be able to attend the flag hoisting function and expressed disappointment over getting the invite "quite late".

He wrote to Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody, saying that he received the invite for the function only in the late evening of September 15. The Congress Working Committee is meeting in Hyderabad.