File pic: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar have received a personal invitation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to attend an international conference in Delhi to mark the 125th birth anniversary of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not invited, the Congress made it clear on Monday.
"We have invited all like-minded political parties," said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, speaking on the November 17 event seen as the opposition party's first attempt to reach out to regional players and rally anti-Modi leaders after its debacle in the May national election. Sources say the Congress has invited almost all parties - including AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Left parties - barring the BJP and its allies.
Responding to the snub, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "The Congress has to realise that the PM is not PM of a party. They should realise it disrespects the nation. Why is the Congress feeling this government will steal heroes of yesteryears? No one can steal this."
Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were invited to Sunday's oath ceremony for 21 new ministers, but did not attend.
Sources close to Mamata Banerjee say she is likely to travel to Delhi for the Congress conference. She had a bitter parting with the Congress-led UPA in 2012 but has stood out as one of the sharpest critics of PM Modi, not pulling any punches during the national election campaign and even after the BJP took power.
Prime Minister Modi will not be in the country on the dates of the conference. He is away on a 10-day tour of Myanmar, Australia and Fiji.
PM Modi has announced big plans for the birth anniversary of Nehru and has reconstituted a committee set up for this by the previous Congress-led UPA government. The committee is now headed by PM Modi instead of his predecessor Manmohan Singh and includes Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Karan Singh.
The Congress lost the national election after 10 years in power, winning 44 seats across the nation in its worst ever showing. Last month, the party lost Haryana and Maharashtra to the BJP.