Decision on new Parliament building could have been taken through talks with political parties: Sharad Pawar

Stressing the importance of dialogue in Parliament-related activities, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad said the decision on the new Parliament building could have been taken through talks with political parties.

The senior NCP leader was speaking in a Sauhard Baithak (meeting to foster amity) at Mahatma Gandhi Mission University in Maharashtra's Aurangabad. There has been a general decline in engaging in dialogue for parliamentary activities, he said. Earlier too, he said, political parties had differences but they tried to resolve them through dialogue.

I didn't understand why there was a need for a new Parliament building. The decision about it could have been taken through dialogue (with political parties). But I learnt about the new building through newspaper, he said.

Without naming anyone, Pawar said, Key persons from the government do not regularly attend Parliament sessions. If the head of the government comes to Parliament someday, that day feels different. Parliament is above all. If importance is not given to it, people's perception (of it) also gets impacted.

Calling himself the leader of a small political party in Parliament, Pawar said, We (opposition) demanded to invite the President for the inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building. There was no need to oppose it (by ruling BJP). A photograph clicked after the first session of Parliament had many leaders of the country, including Dr B R Ambedkar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Pawar said.