There was one at the Begum of Rampur's the same evening. And two more tomorrow - one hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and one by the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The regulars have rarely had it so good. They came from Ajmer Sharif, Bhopal, Hyderabad, looking forward to some party-hopping. ``Iftaars have become a major social event for upwardly-mobile Muslims to rub shoulders with the political elite in Delhi,'' remarked Aijaz Ilmi, executive editor of a Kanpur-based newspaper, Daily Siyasat.

The party -- whether the Bharatiya Janata Party or Congress or SP -- at the end of a day of fasting during Ramzan, didn't seem to matter. Home Minister L K Advani was mobbed as he entered. Eager hands pushed a skull cap on his head and Maulanasshoved and pummelled their way to pose with him.

The mob swelled when Vajpayee came in and there was a virtual stampede as journalists and Muslims vied with each other to get a word with the Prime Minister. He said nothing, not even when asked about a Cabinet expansion, and just turned away with an embarrassed laugh.

At the other end of the sprawling lawns, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was equally in demand. Securitymen gently nudged her to her place as Prime Minister-in-waiting in the VIP enclosure where Muslim leaders filed past, first paying their respects to Vajpayee and then to her, almost as if acknowledging the shape of things to come.

Outside, Mulayam Singh's Man Friday, Amar Singh, went around issuing personal invitations to all to attend the SP's iftaar tomorrow evening. It was almost a political challenge to the Muslim community, setting the tone for the mid-term poll that seems to be round the corner.

The usual crowd, was of course, invited. But there was an overwhelming number ofnew faces. BJP MP from Chandni Chowk, Vijay Goel, had brought his group of Muslims along. The BJP's Minority Morcha had its own invitees. The PIB was asked to furnish a list of Muslim journalists who never made it to iftaars by Congress Governments.

``I don't see many well-known Muslim figures,'' said former member of Parliament S Shahabuddin. Except for Tariq Anwar, not a single Muslim leader from the Congress was present. Nor were there any from other Opposition parties. Prominent Muslims in government posts and social institutions were also missing.

The BJP and its allies, however, more than made up for the absentees. Cabinet ministers, MPs and party workers turned up in full strength, filling the elegant grounds of Hyderabad House, hitherto the Congress bastion. And they looked mighty pleased to finally be a part of Delhi's social elite.