At Sonia’s dinner party, 20 opposition leaders mark their attendance

New Delhi: Leaders of 20 opposition parties got together at a dinner hosted by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. This meet is expected to unite the opposition leaders to defeat the BJP in the next general elections. The dinner which was organized for ‘amity and friendship among opposition parties’ was hosted at the 10 Janpath residence.

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. pic.twitter.com/IxaAm7UPoI — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) March 13, 2018

Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala said "the dinner was not organised for politics, but it is said that the leaders discussed the possibilities of all opposition parties getting together on one platform to defeat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections." Surjewala added, "This dinner was not hosted for politics, but for amity and friendship. The intention is not political, but to hold discussions in family-like setting at a time when the nation is confronted with a number of issues and thousands of crores being taken out of the country,". He said opposition leaders got together to discuss issues in national interest, create bonhomie in the opposition and exchange views. Rahul Gandhi on Twitter 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." It is to be noted that Sonia Gandhi had earlier called for opposition unity, saying parties should set aside their minor differences to get together in the larger interest of keeping the BJP out of power. As per reports, leaders of NCP, RJD, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK and Left parties attended the dinner among others. The dinner part saw the presence of NCP's Sharad Pawar, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, BSP's Satish Chandra Misra and former chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Babulal Marandi, Hemant Soren and Jiten Ram Manjhi, besides JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav and RLD's Ajit Singh. The others present included TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay, CPI-M's D Raja and Mohammad Salim, DMK's Kanimozhi, AIUDF's Baddrauddin Ajmal and leaders of Kerala Congress, besides Kupender Reddy of the JD-S. From RJD, both children of party chief Lalu Prasad -- former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti were present. From Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, AK Antony and Randeep Surjewala were present. (with input from agencies)