New Delhi: The Congress party decided not to attend the official banquet being hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind in honour of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not attend the official banquet, said sources.

Earlier he accepted the invite but expressed his inability to attend the same on Monday. He has conveyed his regret to President’s office for not being able to attend the banquet, said sources. The opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad will also not attend the official banquet. The Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi has not been invited for the official banquet, though she is the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

The Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Rajan Chowdhury also not the President banquet as a mark of protest over the party’s top leaders not being extended an invitation.