All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at the Congress party over an Iftar party hosted by party president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. Calling the Iftar party “hypocrisy of highest order”, Owaisi said that the Congress party was not interested in Muslim empowerment.

Accusing the Congress of indulging in votebank politics, the Hyderabad MP said, “This is the hypocrisy of the highest order. Congress is not interested in Muslim empowerment. They are only trying their level best to get the Hindu vote.”

He further referred to the presence of former President Pranab Mukherjee at the Iftar party, in the wake of the Congress stalwart recently attending an event of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur.

“By inviting Pranab Mukherjee and making him sit beside Rahul Gandhi, the message is loud and clear,” said Asaduddin Owaisi.

Earlier, there were reports of the Congress not inviting the former President for the Iftar party, but the reports were later dismissed by the party. He was seen sitting alongside Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former President Pratibha Patil and former Vice President Hamid Ansari.

The Iftar party, which was hosted by the Congress after a gap of two years, was also attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and ex-Union ministers P Chidambaram, AK Antony, Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma.

Among the opposition leaders who attended were - CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Loktantrik Janata Dal party's Sharad Yadav, DMK leader Kanimozhi, Trinamool Congress' Dinesh Trivedi, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra, Nationalist Congress Party's DP Tripathi and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren.