PM, Sonia, Advani attend Vice President's Iftar
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leader L K Advani were among a host of important personalities who attended the Iftar hosted by Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leader L K Advani were among a host of important personalities who attended the Iftar hosted by Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday.
Singh and Gandhi, who were at the function for more than 30 minutes, tasted the delicacies prepared for the event.
Ansari played the proper host to the Prime Minister, Gandhi and Advani, as also to other invitees, who included union ministers, leaders from various political parties and a number of diplomats.
The Prime Minister, the Congress President, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were seated on a single table, chatting and eating.
Among the union ministers were Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed, Farooq Abdullah, Prithviraj Chavan and Pawan Kumar Bansal.
From the BJP, Arun Jaitley, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Shahnawaz Hussain also attended the Iftar along with CPI leader D Raja.
An official pointed out that the format this time was changed and the Prime Minister and the Congress President were straightaway escorted to the dining table when they arrived to ensure that they could eat something unlike the last year.
The format last year was that they were taken to an enclosure where they sat for some time, munched some snacks and left.
As they left, union ministers and others also had followed suit at that time, because of which food prepared for 200 of the 400 guests went waste, the official recalled.
This time, many of the guests ate along with Singh and Gandhi, leaving those connected with the preparations a satisfied lot.