Former Presidents of India Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil were amongst the top dignitaries who attended the first Iftar party hosted by Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.
While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was not present due to her treatment abroad, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other political leaders like Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Janata Dal-Secular leader Danish Ali, Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi and BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra were present. AIUDF a constituent of UPA, Badruddin Ajmal, too arrived at Congress iftar party.
NCP leader D P Tripathi, DMK’s Kanimozhi, RJD MP Manoj Jha, and JMM's Hemant Soren were the other opposition leaders who were present along with Congress leaders P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad to name a few. Among those who graced the Iftar at a five star hotel in the Capital were several diplomats who exchanged greetings with Rahul. Former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari too spent time at the Iftar ceremony.
Mukherjee, whose acceptance of the RSS invite became a matter of big controversy, greeted those present at the function as he moved among the guests. Rahul Gandhi welcomed him and other guests.
To a question on the unity of opposition, TMC leader and a former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi said that when people are united then the pressure to unite increases for the Opposition parties, too.
Prior to 2016, when the party was in power, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh used to organise the event. The last Iftar of 2015 was hosted by the then party chief Sonia Gandhi. Sonia is expected to be back to country in a day.