By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: It seems to be a season of dinner politics in the national capital. A day after dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi for the opposition parties, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan Thursday hosted dinner for Dalit parliamentarians across the party lines.

There were phone calls to Dalit MPs across the party lines for the dinner at Paswan’s residence but it was mainly the NDA MPs that turned up. Those who attend the dinner included BJP MPs Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ajay Tamta and Republican Party of India’s Ramdas Athawale.

According to sources, the dinner was an effort by the Lok Janshakti Party leader to project unity among Dalit leaders across party lines.

The dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi Tuesday saw the presence of the entire opposition.

The dinner was seen as a concrete attempt to show the opposition unity and effort to forge an anti-BJP alliance.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is also expected to host a dinner later this month for the Opposition.

It is expected that Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee will attend it. There is also a meeting schedule between Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi during her visit to the national capital.

The bypolls result in UP has cemented the hopes of the opposition that together they can take on the BJP in 2019 elections. The SP-BSP alliance won both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in by-election.

Clarion call for Dalit unity

Paswan had hosted a similar dinner after the BJP’s defeat in Bihar Assembly polls in 2015. The meeting comes in the wake of RJD defeating the BJP in Araria and Jehanabad bypolls.