NCP spoils Manmohan Singh's dinner honouring Pratibha Patil?

New Delhi, Jul 23: Prime Minister

on Monday, Jul 23 would hold a special dinner for all political parties in the country honouring the outgoing President of India,

. But it seems that UPA's ally

has spoilt the party mood after postponing its decision over breaking its ties with

. The latest move by the NCP increased Congress' jittery as the party leaders may not enjoy the dinner over the spat with NCP.

After holding a core party meeting at Sharad Pawar's residence, NCP leader Praful Patel on Monday stated that they will take their final decision either on Tuesday or on Wednesday. Meanwhile, they also confirmed that NCP leaders will not attend the PM's dinner but they will attend the farewell party of Mrs Patil.

The rift between NCP and Congress is getting murkier day by day over the power row in the UPA government. Both Pawar and Patel decided to pull out of the government and support it from outside in protest against the way the party was treated by Congress.

Mr Patel also informed that Agatha Sangma, a member of the Lok Sabha from Tura, will follow the decision taken by the party. Earlier on Monday, media reports claimed that Agatha offered to resign as Minister of State for Rural Development and Pawar asked her not to attend her office.

Agatha's father PA Sangma, a founder member of the NCP, had resigned from the party to contest the Presidential elections. Immediately after he declared his intent to contest the election, Pawar made it clear that there was no question of his party going against the decision of the UPA.

PA Sangma lost the battle to UPA's candidate Pranab Mukherjee who will take oath as the 14th President of India at the Parliament at 11 am on Jul 25.

OneIndia News