Pranab Mukherjee at Rahul Gandhi's Iftar party
Former President Pranab Mukherjee, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of prominent opposition leaders on Wednesday attended the Iftar party hosted by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.This was the first Iftar party organised by Rahul Gandhi as Congress President.
As It Happened:
08:10 pm: After this, Rahul asks Yechury if he has also made his fitness video. Sitaram Yechury starts laughing.
08:08 pm: Dinesh Trivedi and Sitaram Yechury start laughing after Rahul’s remark
08:05 pm: Did you see PM Modi’s fitness video, Rahul Gandhi asks guests sitting at his table. After some time, he himself replied- it’s bizarre.
8:00 pm: Many foreign dignitaries including Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay R Kudashev are also present at Rahul Gandhi's Iftar party.
7:45 pm: Former President Pratibha Patil and former Vice-President Hamid Ansari are also present at the party.
7:35 pm: Pranab Mukherjee arrives at Iftar party
7:29 pm: Rahul Gandhi arrives at the Iftar party
7:28 pm: Senior Congress leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad have also arrived at the party.
7:25 pm: Prominent opposition leaders including Sharad Yadav, Satish Mishra (BSP), Hemant Soren (JMM), DP Tripathi (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPM) have also arrived at Rahul Gandhi's Iftar party.
The Congress is hosting an Iftar party after a gap of two years. The party did not hold Iftar, which marks the customary breaking of the day-long fast in the holy month of Ramzan, during the past two years and its last Iftar was in 2015.
The then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had hosted the feast at that time.
This year's Iftar is being keenly watched for the presence of opposition leaders at a time when the Congress is positioning itself as the centre of opposition unity ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The party's decision to resume Iftar comes days after President Ram Nath Kovind decided to discontinue the feast traditionally held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Watch Video: Pranab Mukherjee attends Rahul Gandhi's Iftar party
