PM Modi set to give President Pranab Mukherjee's iftaar party a miss again

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will probably not be attending the iftaar party hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday because he will be meeting the chief ministers of northeastern states.

“The Prime Minister will chair a meeting with chief ministers from the northeastern states, including Sikkim, at 1900 hrs tomorrow,” a PMO statement said.

Last year too, the Prime Minister had skipped President’s iftaar party. Pranab has been hosting the party for the past three years since he took office.

“Important development projects related to these states and the entire North-Eastern region are likely to figure in this meeting,” it added.

According to NDTV , sources in Congress (which governs five out of eight states in question) said the Chief Ministers urged the Prime Minister to postpone the meeting and asked him to attend the iftaar party.

Last year, Modi had to leave for Mumbai for an event, PTI reported. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had attended the event instead.

The guest list of President’s iftaar includes the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, leaders of all major political parties, diplomats of Muslim countries, members of the council of ministers and other luminaries.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, J&K CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Chief Justice of India HL Dattu are also on the list of invitees, a report in The Times of India said .

Meanwhile, a few reports said that PM Modi will be hosting his own iftaar party on 15 July in Srinagar. However, highly-placed sources refuted reports in this regard as totally without basis and speculative.