The Opposition, in yet another opportunity, has taken a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party over videos of the roof of the new Parliament building leaking amid heavy rains in Delhi, which has caused severe damage in the city.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav shared a video of a courtyard of the new Parliament building, which has been built at a cost of around Rs 1,000 crore.
The video, shared by the Kannauj MP, showed water dripping into a blue bucket from the glass dome roof. In his post, he said, "The old parliament was better than this new parliament, where even the old MPs could come and meet. Why not go back to the old parliament, at least till the time the water dripping program is going on in the parliament built with billions of rupees."
Akhilesh claimed that people are asking whether "water dripping from every new roof constructed under the BJP government is a part of their well thought out design or..."
Opposition leader and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also shared a video on X and said, "New parliament lobby is leaking water." She termed the building to be a "monstrous edifice" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ego. Moitra compared the "shaky" situation with that of the 2024 Lok Sabha election results for the BJP.
"Bharat Mandapam leaks another case in point," she told reporters outside the Parliament.
Congress leader Manickam Tagore also took a potshot at the BJP and made a reference to the NEET UG paper leak case, saying "Paper leakage outside,w ater leakage inside."
"The recent water leakage in the Parliament lobby used by the President highlights urgent weather resilience issues in the new building, just a year after completion," Tagore said in his X post.
The Congress MP said that he will move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha to discuss this issue.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party was also not going to leave out a chance to take a dig at the BJP, with which it has been at loggerheads over its supremo Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in the excise policy scam.
"₹ The Parliament which was built at the cost of 1200 crores is now dependent on a bucket of ₹ 120 crores," the AAP said in its post on X.
The new attack at the Centre over 'leaking roof' came just days after a video of a Vande Bharat train's roof leaking water went viral on social. However, the Northern Railway had said that temporary blockage of pipes caused the leakage in the train, which is a major part of the Centre's key schemes for the Indian Railways.
The national capital recorded 228.1 mm of rain in the past 24 hours, causing waterlogging in several parts of the city. In the three hours between 2:30 am and 5:30 am on Thursday, Delhi saw over 150 mm of rainfall.
The highest ever rainfall recorded in 24 hours at Safdarjung, the primary observatory of Delhi, during the month of June was 235.5 mm on June 28, 1936.
Delhi Police said that till 7 am, it received 2,945 calls of traffic am, 127 calls of waterlogging, 27 calls of building collapse and 50 calls of falling of trees.
The incessant downpour prompted the weather office to include Delhi's name in its list of 'areas of concern' in the National Flash Flood Guidance Bulletin. The department advised people to remain indoors, secure windows and doors, and refrain from unnecessary travel.
