Mumbai, May 29: Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee accepted RSS' invitation to attend the closing ceremony for the trainees  to be held in Nagpur on June 7. The decision to attend the event has left the Congress party leaders disappointed and shocked. After reports started doing rounds that Mukherjee will be attending the event, the Congress partymen chose not to embroil themselves in a new controversy and refrained to comment on it.

Mani Shankar Ayer, former Indian diplomat turned politician, when asked about his views over Mukherjee's visit, he expressed his confidence that the former President would take a wise call after consulting others.“As far as I have read, he has been invited, but he will be giving his decision at the appropriate time… I am sure that he weighs it in his mind and I am sure he is consulting others as well. So, this is quite the wrong time for an outsider to comment,”was quoted as saying by The Financial Express.

In a similar move, the Congress party Spokesperson Manish Tewari refrained from the controversy and put the ball in Mukherjee's court. He says, "The former President is the best person to answer. The invitation was extended to him. He has accepted the invitation. Ostensibly he is going. So, therefore, if there are any queries concerning that, he is the best person to answer that.” as quoted in the report.

The former President is expected to speak on nationalism at the RSS event. Earlier too, Mukherjee had delivered a speech at Aligarh Muslim University on Nationalism. He has been critical of the attempts made from time-to-time to redefine definitions of nationalism and has broadened the concept whenever he got the opportunity to deliver a lecture on same.

Mukherjee, one of the top brass leader of the Congress party, became President in 2012. It noteworthy that he was a minister in almost every Congress government since Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1969. While the reason behind him attending the RSS event, it is also believed that he accepted the invitation due to his cordial relationship with PM Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 03:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).