'Will definitely go': Shashi Tharoor confirms invitation for Putin dinner; Rahul, Kharge snubbed

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has confirmed that he has been invited to the President's dinner scheduled for Friday in honour of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament complex, Tharoor said he will “definitely go” to the dinner.


This comes as Congress has claimed that invitations were not extended to leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the government of "breaching all protocols", claiming that the "decision came as a surprise."

"There is no invite for the other LoPs, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. This comes as a surprise, but we should not be surprised because this government is used to breaching all protocols," Khera said.

Also read: India-Russia summit: 'On side of peace', says PM Modi; Putin hails 'deep-rooted' ties - top developments

Khera also slammed Tharoor for accepting the invitation and said that he "should understand why the game is being played."

"It's quite surprising that an invitation was sent and the invitation was accepted also. Everyone's conscience has a voice. When my leaders aren't invited, but I am, we should understand why the game is being played, who is playing the game, and why we shouldn't be part of it," he added.

Earlier, Rahul accused the Centre of not following the "tradition" of allowing foreign dignitaries to meet the leader of opposition.

Speaking to reporters in the Parliament complex, Rahul expressed displeasure and alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".

"Generally, the tradition has been that whoever visits India, the LoP used to have a meeting. It used to happen in the Vajpayee government, the Manmohan Singh government. But this is not the case now. Whenever I visit abroad, they suggest that those people shouldn't meet the LoP. People told us we have been informed not to meet the LoP. LoP provides a second perspective; we also represent India, but the government doesn't want us to meet foreign dignitaries. PM Modi and the foreign ministry do not follow this now because of insecurity," Rahul said.

(This is a developing story)

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