Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday alleged that the then president Ram Nath Kovind was not invited for the foundation laying of new Parliament building because he is "untouchable".

"If the foundation laying was done by an untouchable, then naturally it would have to be washed with Ganga water," he said, referring to the former president's caste. Addressing a Congress rally in Jaipur in poll-bound, Kharge said President Droupadi Murmu was not invited for the inauguration of the new Parliament building while many others, including actors, were invited. "This is an insult to the president," he said.

More than 20 ppposition parties had boycotted the foundation laying ceremony of the new parliament building,?saying that PM Narendra Modi’s decision to inaugurate the building instead of the President was “not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy”.

The Congress also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the architecture of the new Parliament building alleging that it has killed democracy and conversations, a charge the BJP slammed as an insult to the aspirations of 140 crore Indians.?

"The new Parliament building launched with so much hype actually realises the PM's objectives very well. It should be called the Modi Multiplex or Modi Marriot. After four days, what I saw was the death of confabulations and conversations both inside the two Houses and in the lobbies. If architecture can kill democracy, the PM has already succeeded even without rewriting the Constitution,"?Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.