Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Rahul was absent from the farewell dinner hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi for outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.
The dinner was hosted at 10, Janpath for 81-year-old Singh who has been the PM of UPA government for past 10 years.
As per reports, Rahul Gandhi had met the PM last Saturday and had extended his good wishes to him. The Congress vice president had reportedly told Singh that he would not be able to attend the dinner as he would not be in town.
When asked why Rahul had not attended the dinner, Union Minister Kamal Nath said that he was not aware of the reason. "I do not know why he did not attend," he said, PTI reported.
Another minister RPN Singh when asked about questions raised over Rahul`s absence said, "It is unfortunate that politics is being done over it."
The farewell dinner by Sonia Gandhi was attended by a galaxy of party leaders and Union ministers. A memento was presented to Singh with signatures of top Congress leaders and Union ministers and Pallam Raju read out the dedication inscribed on it in praise and honour of the PM.
Both Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur were presented with bouquets and party leaders were seen scrambling for a photograph with the couple and Sonia Gandhi.
Manmohan Singh will be holding his last Cabinet meet on May 17 and then will submit his resignation to President Pranab Mukherjee thereafter. He had announced months back that he would not be seeking another term as PM.
The Congress did not name anyone as the PM candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the voting for which got over on May 12, though Rahul was the face of the campaign of the party.
The results are scheduled to be announced on May 16.
Most of the exit polls have predicted a drubbing for the Congress and a come back for the BJP-led NDA to power at the Centre, with Narendra Modi poised to be India’s next PM.
Manmohan Singh had assumed office on May 22, 2009, for his second straight term as PM and already holds the distinction of being the third-longest serving head of the Union government after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
A former governor of RBI, Singh -- who is often described as the architect of India`s economic reforms - entered politics in 1991 when he was made Finance Minister by the then PM PV Narasimha Rao.
With PTI inputs
