The Congress on Tuesday denied reports of a demand by the party for front row seat for its outgoing chief Rahul Gandhi in Parliament. Terming it 'false propaganda', Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury clarified that no such demand has been made by the party.
"Neither Rahul Ji nor Congress Party have ever put forward any demand for "Front Row" seat at Parliament for @RahulGandhi ji We have proposed seat no. 466 for Rahul Gandhi ji #Desist from false propaganda," Chowdhury tweeted.
Neither Rahul Ji nor Congress Party have ever put forward any demand for "Front Row" seat at Parliament for @RahulGandhi ji
We have proposed seat no. 466 for Rahul Gandhi ji#Desist from false propaganda— Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) July 9, 2019
The clarification from the Congress comes amid media reports that the party had sought an additional front-row seat in Lok Sabha, which the government denied.
The seat allocation in Parliament depends on the strength of the party in the House. As per its strength in the Lok Sabha, the Congress has been allotted two front row seats on the Opposition benches along with one for alliance partner DMK. Besides UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Chowdhury, DMK's TR Baalu has been given the front row seat.
In the 16th Lok Sabha too, Congress had got two seats in the front row which were occupied by Sonia and party's floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge. However, Kharge suffered his first electoral loss in several decades in the 2019 Lok Sabha election after which Chowdhury was appointed as the party's leader in the seventeenth Lok Sabha.
