19 opposition parties attend Sonia Gandhi's dinner

New Delhi: In a bid to stitch a pan India coalition of opposition parties against the BJP led NDA, former Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday hosted a dinner here.According to sources,19 opposition parties attended the dinner meeting including the leaders of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, NCP and Trinamool Congress. Other parties attended the ‘dinner diplomacy' were the CPI(M), CPI, DMK, RJD, HAM, RLD, National Conference, JDS, JMM, AIUDF, Kerala Congress, IUML, JVM, JMM, RSP. 

Rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajya Sabha leader Gulam Nabi Azad were among the attendees. While NCP leader Sharad Pawar represented his party, Ram Gopal Yadav of SP, and Satish Chandra Mishra of BSP and Kanimozhi of DMK, Omar Abdullah of NC, Tejaswi Yadav of RJD also attended the dinner. However, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi for opposition parties aimed at a better dialogue between parties and for friendship. "This dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi for opposition parties should not be seen from the prism of politics", he said.(UNI)