No politics should be played over national festivals: Prahlad Singh Patel on Kharge skipping Red Fort I-Day event  

New Delhi [India], August 15 (ANI): After Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge skipped the Independence Day function at the Red Fort, Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday said that no politics should be played on national festivals like Independence Day. 
"The country and people like us expect that no politics should be played on national festivals. I don't know how much the country will trust his (Mallikarjun Kharge) absence but the fact is that we have two national festivals and everybody be it a party member or opposition member should take it seriously," Prahlad Singh Patel said while speaking to ANI. 
"These are such occasions when everybody should keep their differences aside and come forward for the pride of India. This isn't a law but an esteemed tradition," the Union Minister added. 
Meanwhile, a picture of an empty seat reserved for the Congress president also did rounds on social media, with BJP saying that it reflects “the grand old party's mindset”.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri  took a jibe at the Congress president saying that "he attended the family-controlled program."
Kharge, however, cited eye-related problems and clarified that he had to attend the Independence Day event at the Congress office and could not have made it on time due to security protocols if he had gone for the function at Red Fort.
"Firstly, I have some eye-related problems. Secondly, I had to hoist the Tricolour at my residence at 9.20 am as per protocols. Then I had to come to the Congress office and hoist the Tricolour here too. So, I could not have reached here," Kharge had said. 
"The security is so tight that they don't let anyone else leave before the PM leaves. I thought that I will not be able to reach here on time. I thought it better to not go there to the security situation and lack of time," he had added. (ANI)