The opposition MPs on Wednesday didn’t take part in the Tiranga bike rally that was flagged off by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Piyush Goyal were present at the flagging off event from Red Fort to Vijay Chowk near Parliament.

Congress said, “The tricolor is in our hearts, it is in our veins as blood. On December 31, 1929, Pandit Nehru while hoisting the tricolor on the banks of river Rabi said, 'Now the tricolor has been hoisted, it should not be bowed'. Let us all make this tricolor our identity, which gives the message of unbroken unity of the country. Jai Hind.” They also shared a picture of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru with tricolor in hand.

“Who is the real patriot we all know. The newspaper that played a major role during the Independence War is being targeted. They are celebrating their events. Why should we accept the BJP’s political agenda?” said Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary on not taking part in the rally.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday announced Tiranga Rally from Red Fort to Vijay Chowk in Delhi and urged all political parties to join. The minister added the rally was an initiative of Culture Ministry and not BJP.

BJP’s Shehzad Poonawala tweeted, “Culture Ministry organised a ‘Tiranga bike rally’ from the Red Fort to Parliament for the MPs of all parties this morning Could see only BJP-NDA MPs As per media- Cong/TMC/AAP/SP missing ? Does Tiranga belong to a party or nation? From Rashtrapati to Tiranga why such apman?”