Rahul hails Sonia's dinner for its positivity, scope for Opposition to bond

Sonia Gandhi hosted a dinner for opposition politicos in which leaders of 20 parties, including the Congress, attended

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said there were positive energy and genuine affection during dinner hosted by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Gandhi on Tuesday hosted a dinner for opposition politicos in which leaders of 20 parties, including the Congress, attended.

Rahul took to Twitter and wrote: "Fabulous dinner tonight, hosted by UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi Ji. An opportunity for leaders from different political parties to meet and bond, informally. Much political talk but much more important - tremendous positive energy, warmth and genuine affection."

After the dinner, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said, "We are united and parties like Shiv Sena and TDP are not happy in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)."

The non-Congress leaders who attended Sonia's dinner party are: Sharad Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP), Sharad Yadav- Hindustan Tribal Party (HTP), Sudip Bandyopadhyay of Trinamool Congress (TMC), Baddrauddin Ajmal of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Omar Abdullah of National Conference (NC), Hemant Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), D Raja of Communist Party of India (CPI), Md Salim of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Kanimozhi of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), PK Kunhalikutty of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Satish Chandra Mishra of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Babu Lal Madandi of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), Ramachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM), Dr Kupender Reddy of Janata Dal- Secular (JD-S), a representative of Kerala Congress (M).

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, and senior Congress leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, and Randeep Singh Surjewala were also present at the dinner.

However, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala played down the motive behind holding the dinner.

This dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi for opposition parties should not be seen through the prism of politics, it was for friendship and better dialogue between parties, the Congress leader said.