The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday skipped the lunch hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the INDIA allies protesting in Delhi for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a day after SP lawmakers formed a separate group during the Opposition’s march from Parliament to Akashvani Bhavan.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had returned to Lucknow after Delhi Police released him following his detention. Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh said in an X post, “All INDIA janbandhan parties had been invited for today’s lunch. “In the days ahead, you may also hear of dinner diplomacy and tea diplomacy. We may all be found sitting together eating samosas—that too could become news,” Yadav remarked. A senior SP MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, attributed the absence primarily to inadequate and delayed communication from the Congress. “The Congress sent only a formal letter to the SP office, and it arrived late. First, if this had been communicated properly, many of our MPs who left last evening would have stayed back. But the decision for the lunch was taken late last night and communicated. There is needless comment in some sections of the media on it. INDIA and other Opposition parties are united and stand in solidarity against vote chori, SIR and delimitation.
It was therefore natural that some parties could not be represented. This is the second INDIA group event Yadav has missed in recent months; he had not attended the INDIA group meeting on September 29 but sent two party leaders instead.
According to several lawmakers who attended the lunch at Sagar Ratna restaurant on Janpath in Delhi, many enquired about the SP’s absence. Speaking to media in Lucknow on Wednesday, Yadav said that “lunch diplomacy” would not remain confined to a single meal. Second, a phone call from Kharge ji or any senior leader to SP’s senior leadership would have coordinated things properly,” the MP said. Two Congress leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Yadav might be wary of hobnobbing with the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, due early next year. “He might be repositioning ahead of the polls,” said a senior Congress leader.
