Congress Iftar Party: Names of Pranab Mukherjee, Hamid Ansari Missing From List of Invitees?
The Congress still seems to be upset with former president Pranab Mukherjee for attending a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event in Nagpur last week.
New Delhi, June 11: The Congress still seems to be upset with former president Pranab Mukherjee for attending a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event in Nagpur last week. According to some reports, Pranab Mukherjee's name is missing from the list of invitees for Congress President Rahul Gandhi's iftar party to be hosted in Delhi on June 13. On Monday, Rahul Gandhi evaded questions from mediapersons on why Mukherjee has not been invited for the dinner meet.
Meanwhile, former vice president Hamid Ansari has also reportedly not been invited for the iftar party. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, fails to find a mention in the guest list for the party. the reasons for leaving the two out are unknown.
However, some Congress leaders have been quoted by some media channels as saying that Mukherjee has always been a part of the Congress's events and will be invited for the iftar party. It is yet to be confirmed if he has been invited.
Several senior Congress leaders had expressed disappointment after the former president had accepted the RSS's invite to attend their event in Nagpur. Ahmed Patel, a close aide of Sonia Gandhi, had even said that they had not expected this from Mukherjee.
However, after Pranab Mukherjee spoke of secularism, pluralism and gave a speech calling for tolerance, the Congress change its stance towards the former president and asked the RSS to practise what he said. There were also reports that the Opposition may be looking at making Pranab Mukherjee their face for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The iftar party by the Congress is scheduled for June 13, Wednesday. The party has invited all its allies. All those who had attended the dinner meet with Sonia Gandhi for grand alliance talks have been invited for the iftar party. It remains to be seen whether Pranab Mukherjee makes it for this event.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2018 06:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).