Sonia holds Iftar, shares table with Sharad Yadav and Lalu

Sonia Gandhi on Sunday hosted her first Iftar in three years, which saw the Congress president sharing a table with leaders of RJD and its new-found ally Janata Dal-United.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav were seated with Sonia Gandhi at the Iftar which was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

While Rahul was seated with diplomats, Singh was on a separate table with former Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi and cine star Sharmila Tagore among others.

Sonia sought Singh to her table where NCP leader Tariq Anwar was also seated, but the former prime minister went to his designated place.

The fast-breaking feast during Ramzan is only the second big Iftar hosted this season after the one by President Pranab Mukherjee last week.

The Iftar by Gandhi, who did not hold the feast during last three years because of natural disaster or tragedy in the country, was organised at Ashoka Hotel and attended by political leaders, academicians, diplomats, religious leaders and journalists.

Those in attendance included former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Ambika Soni, JD-U's Prem Chand Gupta, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, Ajay Maken, Motilal Vora, Digvijay Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Shakeel Ahmed, Rajeev Shukla, Kumari Selja, Mohsina Kidwai, Karan Singh, CLP chief in Delhi Assembly Haroon Yusuf, DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely, Raj Babbar, Mohammed Azaharuddin and Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was also present.