New Delhi, November 6: Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel on Wednesday responded to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s allegations of the Central government playing politics in reconstitution of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) society. Patel said that there should not have been any controversy regarding the decision as the memorial is now a museum for all ex-Prime Ministers. Arnab Goswami Among 4 New Members Appointed to Nehru Memorial Museum Society, 3 Dissenters Sacked.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the Tourism Minister said, “Memorial is now a museum for all ex-PMs. It hasn't happened today, it happened years ago, it'll be soon inaugurated. All these leaders belong to different parties. The controversy is uncalled for.”

Prahlad Patel's Statement:

Earlier in the day, Kharge hit out at the Narendra Modi government for dropping the names of Congress leaders from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society panel. He stated, “It is unfortunate government is taking everything politically. The government took this decision as they want their own people to be included in the panel.” Manmohan Singh Writes a Strongly Worded Letter to Narendra Modi Over Nehru Memorial and Teen Murti Complex.

The Centre on Tuesday has reconstituted the NMML society removing Congressmen Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Karan Singh as its members and inducting television journalist Rajat Sharma and adman Prasoon Joshi among others. An order regarding this was issued on Tuesday. As per the order, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the president of the society and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh its vice president.

Union ministers including Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Prakash Javadekar and Patel are also its members. Earlier, the Centre replaced four members who had opposed the move to build a museum for all PMs. It appointed television journalist Arnab Goswami, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, BJP lawmaker Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and IGNCA chairman Ram Bahadur Rai in place of the sacked members.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 06, 2019 07:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).