Sonia to host lunch for MPs of UPA, outside supporters Monday

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will host a lunch for MPs of the ruling alliance and supporting parties Monday, a day ahead of the vice presidential election August 7, official sources said.

Gandhi had hosted a similar lunch July 18, a day ahead of the presidential poll.

The sources said though United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee and incumbent Hamid Ansari is ahead of his rival Jaswant Singh, backed by the National Democratic Alliance, the lunch would add to the bonhomie among the alliance partners and the parties supporting it from outside, with the month-long monsoon session of parliament starting Aug 8.

Besides the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the National Conference, who are part of UPA, leaders of parties like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party are expected to attend the lunch being held at the Ashoka Hotel here, said the sources.

Government sources claimed Ansari will get support of around 500 votes out of the total 790 votes of parliamentarians who form the electoral college to elect the vice president.

The Left parties are also supporting the UPA nominee.