NEW DELHI: After the Congress’ leaders in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday decided that he will also skip President Ram Nath Kovind’s Banquet on Tuesday in honour of visiting US President Donald Trump.
Sources close to the former Prime Minister said that he will not attend the banquet as the party is upset that its chief Sonia Gandhi has not been invited to the function and there has been no engagement with the opposition by the visiting US President.
Earlier in the day, Azad, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, declined the invitation to attend the President’s dinner for Trump.
Sources close to the Congress leader said that “since no invitation has been extended to Chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Sonia Gandhi, so it would not be appropriate for him to attend the function”.
Earlier, Chowdhury had declined the invitation to attend the Presidential banquet on the same grounds. The Congress said on Friday that it had not received any invitation for its leaders to meet Trump on his two-day visit to India. IANS
