Pranab Mukherjee sat next to Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the Iftar party
Highlights
- Former President Pranab Mukherjee sat next to Rahul Gandhi
- There was speculation Pranab Mukherjee would be dropped from guest list
- Rahul Gandhi's Iftar party turned into a show of opposition strength
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's
Iftar party on Wednesday evening -- his first since taking over the party -- turned into a massive show of opposition strength. But the most-watched face there was former President Pranab Mukherjee, whose decision to attend an RSS function had rattled the Congress, his party of five decades.
A video and photographs shared by the Congress on Twitter showed the former President sitting next to Rahul Gandhi -- their first meeting since the controversy broke.
There had been speculation that Mr Mukherjee would be dropped from the Congress guest list for attending the RSS function on June 7.
Many Congress leaders, including Mr Mukherjee's daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee, were apprehensive that his very presence at the function would hand the BJP a potent weapon against the Congress. the Congress later said Mr Mukherjee, with his address, reminded the BJP and its ideological mentor about "India's pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness" but a section still questioned Mr Mukherjee's decision.
Buzz about Mr Mukherjee's exclusion intensified because of comments by the Shiv Sena, the estranged ally of the BJP. The Sena suggested that the BJP was keeping Mr Mukherjee in reserve as insurance for coming to power after the national election next year. If the BJP fell short of numbers, Mr Mukherjee's name might be proposed as the Prime Ministerial candidate, the Sena said.
The Congress, however, staunched speculation, saying the former President had accepted Rahul Gandhi's invitation.
The
Iftar at Delhi's Taj Palace Hotel, organized by the Congress after two years, was attended by CPM's Sitaram Yechury, DMK's Kanimozhi, RJD's Manoj Jha and Sharad Yadav. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sent Dinesh Trivedi as her representative, and Mayawati sent SC Mishra. Danish Ali, leader of Karnataka's Janata Dal Secular, was also present. So were former President Pratibha Patil and former Vice-President Hamid Ansari.
Conspicuous by its absence was the Aam Aadmi Party, with which the Congress is at loggerheads in Delhi. The big opposition get together is the first since Janata Dal Secular chief HD Kumaraswamy's oath in Bengaluru earlier this month. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had attended that meeting.