Sonia Gandhi holds iftaar

Congress president Sonia Gandhi held an iftaar (breaking the Ramzan fast) party in the capital on Sunday evening. A norm during the Congress-led UPA coalition rule, it has significantly not found any takers in the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

During UPA rule, iftaars were also hosted by then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Successor Narendra Modi has not held one till date. BJP leaders such as Shah Nawaz Hussain and Najma Heptullah, who used to host prominent iftaar parties, abstained this year. Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, head of the Lok Janshakti Party, has hosted one but in Patna, at his party headquarters.

Sonia Gandhi, hosting one after a decade, had leaders from "secular" parties such as the RJD, JD(U), JMM and ally NCP keeping her company. Party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were also present.

There was speculation that the prime minister had made it clear to his party members that he would not be attending any such dos. He was conspicuous by his absence at President Pranab Mukherjee's iftaar earlier this week. As Gujarat chief minister, Modi had not held any iftaar parties.

At Sunday's event, RJD chief Lalu Prasad was deep in conversation with Sonia Gandhi. The JD(U) from Bihar was represented by Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi. NCP's Tariq Anwar was present. However, none came from the Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party or the Left parties.

Much of the conversation at the party centred around the listening devices reporteldy found in Union minister Nitin Gadkari's home, with Congress seniors speculating aloud that it was theBJP brass which would be more interested in his conversations than the Congress.

Among Congress party seniors present were Salman Khurshid, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Ajay Maken, Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Shakeel Ahmed and Ghulam Nabi Azad.