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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday, after receiving an invitation to a banquet in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said it was “inappropriate” that opposition leaders have not been invited and added that he would “definitely attend”.
“I don’t know on what basis the invitations have been issued, but I will definitely attend. It is not fair that opposition leaders have not been invited,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, as per PTI report.
However, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were not invited to the presidential banquet hosted this evening during Putin’s two-day state visit.
President Putin reached the national capital on Thursday on a two-day visit.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tharoor had stressed the importance of India’s relations with Russia ahead of the much-awaited visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament on Putin’s upcoming visit, Tharoor said, “This is a very important visit. It is a very important relationship. We talk for a long time about strategic autonomy; we have to preserve our dialogue space with the US, China, Russia.”
Asserting that India has independent relations with other countries, he said, “We cannot mortgage our autonomy to the interest of any other country. We have to have independent relations with all countries. Russia is an old relationship, it is a serious relationship, a strong relationship.”
Earlier in the day, addressing the India-Russia Business Forum in New Delhi, President Putin said that due to initiatives like PM Modi’s Make in India programme, India is becoming technologically sovereign.
He said the Russian delegation did not come only to discuss energy issues and sign contracts for the supply of oil and gas.
He said, “What we want is the development of our multifaceted relationship with India in various sectors. The Prime Minister emphasized on several occasions in our personal conversations that India has vast and growing opportunities in many sectors, but so far they have not been utilized to the extent that both sides want to see it. That is why we have called this forum.”
President Putin said that Russia is in favor of strengthening its multifaceted relations with India in various fields.
He also said that Russian companies are ready to increase purchases of various types of goods and services from India.
(with inputs from agencies)
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