Putin visits India: Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge not invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan banquet

Putin visits India: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India for a two-day official visit, personally received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport yesterday and escorted to the Prime Minister’s residence for a private luncheon.

On Friday morning, Putin paid homage at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Raj Ghat before holding bilateral talks with Modi, resulting in several key agreements. A state banquet in honor of President Putin is scheduled at Rashtrapati Bhavan, with several central ministers invited.

However, sources report that Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, were not invited. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who serves as the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, will attend the banquet.

Traditionally, visiting foreign dignitaries have met opposition leaders in India, a practice followed during the tenures of former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. Reacting to the exclusion, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the government has recently advised foreign visitors not to meet opposition leaders.

“It is a tradition that any visiting dignitary meets opposition leaders. The government is deliberately restricting this,” he said. BJP leader Sambit Patra countered the allegations, stating that the government has no role in such meetings. “Meeting with foreign dignitaries is the personal decision of the visiting guest. Opposition leaders’ claims are baseless,” he said.

The exclusion of the Congress leadership from the Rashtrapati Bhavan banquet has sparked political debate, highlighting tensions between the ruling party and the opposition over protocol and engagement with visiting foreign leaders.

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