Vice President Hamid Ansari was not invited to International Yoga Day event, says his office

New Delhi: Vice President Hamid Ansari’s office said on Sunday night that he was not invited to the Yoga Day event in the capital after his absence was questioned by senior BJP and RSS leader Ram Madhav.

Madhav had deleted a tweet questioning Ansari’s absence and then apologising to him saying he later learnt that the Vice President was unwell.

The Vice President’s office said that was not correct.

“Vice President was not sick. He was never invited for the yoga programme,” it said, adding, “the Vice President only attends those programmes in which the Minister concerned invites him as per protocol.”

Madhav also accused Rajya Sabha TV, the public service broadcaster run by Parliament’s Upper House, of blacking out live telecast of the Yoga Day event “completely” despite being run on taxpayers money. As Rajya Sabha Chairman, Ansari is the controlling authority for the channel.

This was contradicted by Gurdeep Singh Sappal, CEO of Rajya Sabha TV. “Baseless rumours. RSTV not just did live telecast of Rajpath event. But also had 3 documentaries, 1 special report today on Yoga”, he tweeted.

As the topic trended, Madhav deleted both the tweets including his apology.