Overview
- Congress said Leaders of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were not invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan state dinner for President Vladimir Putin, while party MP Shashi Tharoor attended.
- Video and press reports showed Tharoor, who chairs Parliament’s external affairs panel, interacting with senior ministers at the banquet after confirming he accepted the invite.
- Rahul Gandhi reiterated his charge that the government tells visiting delegations not to meet the LoP, a claim government sources rejected by saying delegations decide such meetings and citing multiple LoP engagements since June 2024.
- Senior Congress figures publicly rebuked Tharoor for going to the dinner, framing his attendance as politically unwise and urging deference to party leaders left off the list.
- The banquet capped a high-profile Modi–Putin visit that featured talks on defense cooperation, safeguarding India–Russia trade from external pressure, and potential collaboration on small modular nuclear reactors.