Row over Putin dinner | Congress fumes as Tharoor gets an invite but Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge don't

New Delhi: Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi were not invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted by President Droupadi Murmu but senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is at loggerheads with the Congress leadership, was.

Congress was quick to take a swipe at Tharoor for accepting the invite saying one should understand “why the game is being played” by the Modi government and one should question their own conscience and listen to it.

Only a day ago, Rahul had accused the government of ignoring tradition and not allowing a meeting between him and Putin owing to its “insecurity”. The ruling BJP had denied the allegation, saying visiting dignitaries decide on whom to meet while sharing a list of foreign leaders who met Rahul.

“There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited,” General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said.

Tharoor, however, received an invite for the banquet. He said there was a time when the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped some years ago. “It has been resumed…I will definitely go,” he said.

However, he said he does not know on what basis invitations were sent while emphasising that the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. “Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs (but) various other cross sections of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression.”

He said the invites are sent by the government and the protocol section of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. “All I can say I am honoured to have been invited,” he said.

Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman Pawan Khera said that one should know why they should not be part of a game being played by the government.

“All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable. We would have listened to our voice of conscience,” he said.

“We should understand why the game is being played, who is playing the game, and why we shouldn't be part of it,” he said.

Tharoor has been at odds with the Congress and has put the party on the backfoot on several occasions. Last month, he skipped a leaders' meeting to review the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in 12 states though only a day before he was present at a lecture being delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “despite battling a bad cold and cough”.

In November, he had put the Congress on the firing line by questioning 'dynasty politics' besides defending LK Advani’s legacy objecting to reducing his “long years of service to one episode” of leading the contentious 'Rath Yatra' while drawing parallel to Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

He had come out in support of the Modi government during Operation Sindoor and had gone against the party line.