Congress president and the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has not been invited to the G20 gala dinner being hosted by President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, his office said today.
The gala dinner, hosted by the President of India, will take place at the multi-function hall of the Bharat Mandapam, the revamped India Trade Promotion Organisation complex, at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. Invitations for the dinner have been sent to all chief ministers.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CM MK Stalin have confirmed their attendance at the event, reports The Times of India.
Reportedly, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah will not attend the dinner on account of pre-scheduled programmes in their respective states.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda said he would not attend the G20 dinner due to health reasons. The Janata Dal (Secular) supremo said that he has already communicated this to the Union government. “I wish the G20 summit a grand success”, he said on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.
Among business leaders who have been invited for the dinner include Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangala Birla and Bharti Airtel founder chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
World leaders, including UK PM Rishi Sunak, US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Australian PM Anthony Albanese, will arrive in New Delhi today ahead of the G20 summit. Other leaders including Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, UAE President HH Shaikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, will also arrive in Delhi today.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be attending the Summit and Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, will miss the G20 summit after he tested positive for Covid-19, the government said. Economy Minister Nadia Calvino and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will represent Spain at the summit, reported Reuters.
PM Modi will be holding more than 15 bilateral meetings with the world leaders over the three days.