New Delhi, February 24: Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had earlier accepted the invitation for President Ram Nath Kovind's banquet in honour of visiting US President Donald Trump, said they would not be attending the event. The denial of invite by Azad and Singh came a day before the banquet was scheduled to be held in the national capital. Congress Leader Adhir Chowdhury Likens Donald Trump to Bollywood Villain 'Mogambo' From Film 'Mr India'.

The Rashtrapati Bhawan or the President's Office had issued the invite to Azad, the Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the party's leader in Lok Sabha, apart from Singh - who served as the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014. While Chowdhury had immediately turned down the invite citing no invitation being extended to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Azad and Singh had earlier accepted the same.

Reports on Monday, citing Congress leaders, confirmed that Azad has conveyed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan his inability to attend the state banquet for the visiting dignitaries from the United States. With Azad and Singh skipping the event, no member from India's national Opposition party - Congress - would be present at the dinner reception for Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other dignitaries.

Earlier, Chowdhury had lashed out at the government for not inviting Sonia Gandhi despite the dinner reception being a non-partisan event. "Trump is coming here. India to host a grand dinner for him but the Opposition is not invited. Why Sonia Gandhi ji is not invited for dinner with Trump? In the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event, both Republican and Democrats shared the stage. But here, only Modi will be with Trump. What kind of democracy is this?" the Behrampur MP had questioned.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2020 06:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).