Manmohan Singh to host ?small, private? dinner for Obama

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be hosting a ?small, private? dinner at his official residence in honour of visiting US President Barack Obama on November 7.

While the occasion is supposedly being kept a ?small? affair, the not-so-short guest list is fast nearing 100, reports said on Wednesday.

While the original target was to invite about 25-30 guests, various factors have added about another 50 names to the invite list.

Reports from Washington said that the US President and his wife wanted a ?private? dinner between with Singh and his spouse, though White House has been convinced by New Delhi to extend the definition of the private dinner.

The obvious names of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, also a Parliamentarian and Congress general secretary, figures in the list.

Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, SM Krishna, P Chidambaram and Pritviraj Chavan have also reportedly been invited.

Union minister of state for Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed will also be present as he has been named Obama?s minister-in-waiting.

The minister-in-waiting, a ceremonial facet of any Head of State visit, accompanies the visiting dignitary to all important events.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is also among those invited to the dinner.

The young leader was also a special invitee earlier when former US President Bill Clinton and George W Bush had visited India.

National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia are also likely to be in the select gathering.

To add the touch of glamour world, film actor and former MP Shabana Azmi and her lyricist husband Javed Akthar have also been invited for the dinner.