Pranab Mukherjee to attend Rahul Gandhi's iftar party

Laying to rest speculations about whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi would invite former president Pranab Mukherjee to the iftar party he was hosting in the national Capital on June 13, the party said that an invitation was sent out to Mukherjee and that he has accepted it.

"Multiple media houses have raised questions on iftar invite to @CitiznMukherjee on behalf of Congress President. Congress President has extended an invite to Pranab Mukherjee & he has graciously accepted. Hope this will set to rest unwarranted speculation," party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted. He further said that Mukherjee had attended the party's last iftar party organised by Sonia Gandhi two years ago.

The guest list is expected to be a high-profile one, reports came out that prominent faces like Mukherjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former vice-president Hamid Ansari will be missing. Party sources said that senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel are working on the list of invitees, which will be finalised by Tuesday.

The speculations come days after Mukherjee attended an RSS event in Nagpur, drawing harp criticism from several corners, including senior leaders of the Congress party for accepting it.

Congress leader Ahmed Patel had tweeted that he "did not expect this from Pranab Da", and Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha, too, criticised his move on twitter.

A Congress leader, however, has played down the report earlier in the day to dna. "Pranabda is a part and parcel of this party... There has been no directive from the party high command to not invite him," he said.

Why the speculation

• The report comes days after the former president attended an event of the RSS in Nagpur.
• This move had initially invited sharp criticism from several corners, including senior party leaders, even his daughter Sharmistha.