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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said that the atmosphere at the Rashtrapati Bhavan banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin was warm and friendly.Sharing the pictures from the Banquet on X, the Congress leader said he enjoyed his conversations with members of the Russian delegation seated at his table.”Attended the Rashtrapati Bhavan banquet for President Putin last night. A warm and engaging atmosphere reigned. Enjoyed my conversations with many of the attendees, especially my dining companions from the Russian delegation,” Tharoor wrote. Tharoor’s presence at the dinner has triggered tension within the Congress once more. Earlier, he had confirmed that he received an official invitation and said he would “definitely go”. This came at a time when the party claimed that invitations were not sent to leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Several Congress leaders criticised the decision. Pawan Khera said the government was “breaching protocol” by not inviting the two LoPs, and questioned why Tharoor accepted the invitation. Khera argued that party members should recognise the “game being played” and avoid being part of it. Other leaders, including Salman Khurshid, also said that the move goes against democratic traditions. Rahul Gandhi too expressed displeasure, saying foreign dignitaries usually meet the leader of the opposition, and claimed that the government prevents such meetings due to “insecurity”.”Generally, the tradition has been that whoever visits India, the LoP used to have a meeting. It used to happen in the Vajpayee government, the Manmohan Singh government. But this is not the case now,” he said.
