The Congress on Friday announced that neither party chief and Rajya Sabha leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge nor Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi were invited to the state banquet in honour of visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Friday .
According to party officials, an invitation to attend the dinner has been extended to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who chairs the standing committee of Parliament on external affairs.
“There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight’s official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited,” Congress’ communication chief Jairam Ramesh posted on X on Friday.
The principal opposition party claimed that it is a breach of protocol and reminded that opposition leaders have always been invited for Rashtrapati Bhavan banquets.
In a video shared by news agency PTI on X, Tharoor said, “Don’t know on what basis invitations are issued, but I will certainly attend. It is not appropriate that Leaders of Opposition are not invited.”
A senior Congress leader said the government has deliberately invited Tharoor ahead of the Kerala election.
Tharoor had praised PM Narendra Modi’s bonhomie with President Putin.
“ In diplomacy, both symbolism and substance are important. The symbolism is a very important part of our foreign policy outreach. When the PM goes to the airport, he takes him (Putin) for a private dinner and gives him the Gita translated into Russian; all these are significant symbolic gestures. They are not a substitute for substance. I have no doubt that it is an important signal of continuity of an important relationship with Russia,” Tharoor told media.
Earlier, Gandhi had attacked the government over not allowing opposition leaders to meet Putin. He claimed that the government is insecure.
“Generally, the tradition has been that whoever visits India, the LoP used to have a meeting. It used to happen in the Vajpayee government, the Manmohan Singh government. But this is not the case now. Whenever I visit abroad, they suggest that those people shouldn’t meet the LoP. People told us we have been informed not to meet the LoP. LoP provides a second perspective; we also represent India, but the government doesn’t want us to meet foreign dignitaries. PM Modi and the foreign ministry do not follow this now because of insecurity,” Gandhi alleged.
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