The BJP-led Central government found itself in hot water after the Congress and Samajwadi Party posted videos of water leaking in the Parliament lobby as Delhi received heavy rainfall.
While Congress MP Manickam Tagore moved an adjournment motion on the issue in Lok Sabha, Akhilesh Yadav taunted the BJP for spending billions on constructing a new Parliament and sought proceedings be moved to the old building.
Taking to X, Manickam Tagore said, "Paper leakage outside, water 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."
Samajwadi Party chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav urged the government to shift the remainder of the monsoon session to the old Parliament building.
"The old Parliament was better than this, 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 new building constructed with billions of rupees," Yadav tweeted.
"The public is asking whether the water leakage from every new roof built under the BJP government is a part of their well-thought-out design," he quipped.
The new Parliament building, part of the government's ambitious Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista Redevelopment Project, was inaugurated on May 28, 2023, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, several opposition parties, including the Congress, had boycotted the ceremony. Built over an area of 64,500 square metres with state-of-the art amenities, the new building was constructed at a cost of Rs 862 crore.
The national capital recorded 108 mm of rain in the past 24 hours, the highest in a single day in July in 14 years. At least nine people have died in rain-related incidents as heavy showers crippled normal life, submerging roads and leaving residential areas waterlogged.