Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi attended a tea party alongside PM Modi shortly after the winter session of Parliament.
A CPI (M) leader has slammed the move, saying it "sends a wrong message."
The government and the Opposition have been at loggerheads this session over the scrapping of MGNREGA into a new Act.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi's attendance of a tea party with Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortly after the winter session of Parliament "sends a wrong message," Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas has said.
Brittas, on Tuesday, slammed Gandhi for attending a tea party with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders following the conclusion of the Winter Session of Parliament.
“This has been a matter of concern for people like us. It was not a good scene for us to see Priyanka Gandhi and others sitting at the tea party along with the Prime Minister. We would have expected better wisdom to guide them," Brittas said to ANI.
Brittas added that the timing of the tea party, just hours after the centre "bulldozed" the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), was objectionable.
The CPI(M) MP pointed out that such displays of cross-party camaraderie could have broader implications for opposition unity.
“I can also tell you that for comparatively insignificant issues, we stayed away from such tea parties. Last monsoon session, we stayed away because the government was not prepared for a discussion on SIR," he said,
“Earlier, when the Waqf Bill was bulldozed, we stayed away. Compared to all those issues, this was a humongous issue," he added.
Brittas went on to highlight how the optics of the tea party were particularly troubling given the legislative context.
“Such a spectacle of Priyanka Gandhi having a cup of tea with the Prime Minister. Just a few hours after the bulldozing of Mahatma Gandhi, it was not only a sad scene, but it also sent a wrong message to the people of the country."
Priyanka Gandhi attended Om Birla's tea party to mark the formal closing of the Winter Session of Parliament. During the gathering, she and PM Modi were seated next to each other, a move that has drawn attention from both political observers and opposition leaders.
The INDIA bloc leaders have, historically, been wary of participating in informal engagements with the government, particularly during contentious legislative developments.
