Rahul Gandhi attends Republic Day Parade, seen sitting in middle rows

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attended the Republic Day Parade at the Rajpath here today. The Congress yesterday expressed displeasure and called it 'cheap politics' to allot him a seat in the fourth row. Gandhi was today seen sitting in the middle rows having a conversation with senior Congressman and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. ALSO READ: Here are 10 points about 69th Republic day parade Congress leaders said their party presidents had always been seated in the front row since Independence. Government sources of The Telegraph, said the seating arrangements had to be different this time as the guest list included 10 heads of state and their spouses rather than the usual single guest. They denied any intention to insult Rahul. Although there is no laid-down procedure to give the head of a major political party a front-row seat, BJP chief Amit Shah has been given one. Sonia Gandhi always got a front seat as Congress president, even during NDA rule, and L.K. Advani received the same courtesy from the erstwhile UPA government. On Thursday, Rahul wrote a "letter to the nation", in order to "remind ourselves of the commitments we made in our Constitution." "On this Republic day, let us renew our lifelong pledge to protect our Constitution, the keystone of our cherished Republic, and to defend it as one people, whenever it is endangered," he said.

On the eve of our 69th Republic Day, I'm writing this #LettertotheNation, to remind ourselves of the commitments we made in our Constitution. I wish each of you a very Happy Republic Day! Jai Hind. pic.twitter.com/VaJ3WOeBqx

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 25, 2018