Virtually isolated after its rout in the recent polls, the Congress is using the international conference to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru to reach out to fellow Opposition parties including the left.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has sent a personal invitation to former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to attend the conference on November 17-18, but has not invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the occasion.
Party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said that the Congress has invited leaders of all left parties, JD(U), RJD, Trinamool Congress and other parties “who believe in the idea of India” as espoused by Nehru.
Sonia Gandhi last week formally invited NCP chief Sharad Pawar for the event, however, the Maratha strongman has already expressed his inability to attend the event owing to the NCP’s Maharashtra unit’s two-day convention at Alibag which coincides with the Congress event.
Asked whether it will also invite Ram Vilas Paswan’s lJP, Ahmed said: “They are now with the NDA. We have not invited those who do not believe in Nehru’s ideas.”
Hitting out at the Congress for not inviting Modi, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said it shows the “small-mindedness of the party and its leadership”. “Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and Modi is the current Prime Minister.
I am amused by the decision of the Congress not to invite Modi to the conference on Nehru when it is inviting leaders from various other countries,” Naidu said adding that it only reflects the small-mindedness of the Congress party and its leadership. Sources in the Congress have said that no leader of the BJP or its allies would be invited for the occasion.
The two-day event to highlight the legacy and worldview of the first Prime Minister will be attended by a host of international leaders and representatives of various political parties from India and abroad.
The event is being held separately by the Congress even as the Government has already indicated that it will organise Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary this year in a mega way to increase awareness about ‘Chacha Nehru’ through a number of initiatives like organising ‘Year of Bal Swachhta’.