A Congress MP on Thursday moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha after visuals showed water leaking inside the new Parliament building’s lobby.

It is not clear when they were recorded, but social media have been flooded since Thursday morning with visuals of flooded areas outside the Parliament building and of at least one bucket inside the lobby to collect leaking rainwater.

“Paper leakage outside, water leakage inside. The recent water leakage in the Parliament lobby used by the President highlights urgent weather resilience issues in the new building, just a year after completion. Moving Adjournment motion on this issue in Loksabha,” Congress leader Manickam Tagore B, three-term MO from Virudhnagar, Andgra Pradesh, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday morning.

According to agency reports, he moved the motion demanding the formation of a specialised committee, “comprising all party MPs, to inspect the Parliament building thoroughly following water leaks inside the Parliament lobby yesterday [Wednesday] due to heavy rains.”

He wasn’t the only Opposition politician who highlighted the rain misery for the new Parliament building. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also took pot shots at the government.

“The old Parliament was better than this new Parliament, where even the old MPs could come and meet. Why not go back to the old Parliament, at least till the time the water dripping programme is going on in the Parliament built with billions of rupees. People are asking whether water dripping from every new roof constructed under the BJP government is a part of their well thought out design or…” Akhilesh posted on X in Hindi.

Journalist-turned Trinamul member of Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose also said that the old Parliament building was better.

“The new Parliament building has no porch and steep precipitous steps. Last night when there was a cloudburst in Delhi, it was the sturdy old Parliament building which came to our rescue - sheltering us under its thoughtfully designed porch and providing some dry ground. The new building built hurriedly and without shelter, failed, while the old one stood firm. #delhirain,” Ghose posted on Thursday.

Another Trinamul Rajya Sabha member, former bureaucrat Jawhar Sircar, posted: “Modi’s Pragati Maidan Tunnel, Central Vista projects have played havoc with Delhi’s hydrography & water exits. Condemned Delhi to constant water-logging! Even new Parliament is leaking!”

He also posted this video below, of his intervention in the Rajya Sabha.

In an op-ed piece published in The Telegraph last year, Sircar had written that “Rs 1,200 crore were hacked away from our battle against Covid to feed vain glory” in the making of the new Parliament.