Opp. leaders stay away from Iftar held by RLD

None of the top Opposition leaders, despite all talks of Opposition unity, took the trouble of attending an Iftar party hosted the by Rashtriya Lok Dal in Lucknow on Wednesday night.

Though the top leaders did not attend the Iftar, they made sure that the other leaders in the party represented them,.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who had worked closely with the RLD to script Opposition victory in recent byelections in Kairana and Noorpur, did not attend the event.

RLD vice- president Jayant Chaudhary had met Mr Yadav on Wednesday afternoon, apparently to personally invite him for the event.

The two leaders are learnt to have also discussed the prospects of the much anticipated alliance between various regional parties and its overall political implications.

Mr Yadav did not attend the Iftar party though he did sent state SP president Naresh Uttam as his representative. Other SP leaders who attended the party included SP spokesman Jagdev Singh Yadav and Mohd Arshad Khan.

From the Congress, UPCC president Raj Babbar did not attend since he was not in Lucknow, but party vicepresident Siraj Mehndi did make his presence felt.

CPM leader Premnath Rai, RLD state president Ashok Singh and NCP state president Ramesh Dixit were among those who representated their parties.