Congress MPs, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, did not attend a breakfast meeting hosted by President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present. The Congress MPs, who are engaged in a bitter tussle with the BJP-led Union government, had other meetings scheduled around the same time, including those with opposition leaders.
A senior Congress leader clarified that it was not a boycott and said, “Anyway, these are not happy times for us to attend such breakfasts and dinners.” Congress Rajya Sabha MPs from Rajasthan, K C Venugopal, and Pramod Tiwari, were present at meetings of opposition leaders and Congress MPs.
The breakfast meeting was hosted for MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim. Murmu has been meeting Parliamentarians from different states in batches since March 15, and the last such breakfast meeting is scheduled on March 31, where MPs from Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Meghalaya will attend.
Congress has six Rajya Sabha MPs from Rajasthan, and Sonia Gandhi is the party’s only MP from Uttar Pradesh. Congress MPs from Telangana, Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Komati Venkat Reddy had attended the previous meeting hosted by Murmu for MPs from Delhi, Goa, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu, on March 24. When asked about the absence of Sonia and other MPs from the breakfast meeting, a Congress leader said that it was up to individuals to make their interpretations.