Pranab mingles with all At Home

President Mukherjee met dignitaries and diplomats who had queued up to wish him

Under an overcast sky at the sprawling Rashtrapati Bhawan lawns,President Pranab Mukherjee hosted his maiden At Home Wednesday evening on the occasion of 66th Independence Day celebrations where he broke convention to mingle with invitees outside of the VVIP security cordon.

President Mukherjee met dignitaries and diplomats who had queued up to wish him,walking past the security barricade as officials accompanying him hurriedly sought to clear the way. A beaming Mukherjee accepted the wishes as he folded his hands to greet the guests.

Beside Vice-President Hamid Ansari,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur,Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present at the function.

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The presence of Opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley besides senior BJP leader LK Advani and deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad,who have been conspicuous by their absence at previous At Home functions hosted by the President,was seen as a measure of the respect that Mukherjee commanded from even Opposition leaders.

Among other political leaders who were present were Lalu Prasad,DP Yadav as well as senior ministers like Defence Minister AK Antony,Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Law Minister Salman Khurshid.

The three service chiefs General Bikram Singh,Air Chief NAK Browne and Admiral Nirmal Verma as well as CBI chief A P Singh and Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar were also present.

The 93-year-old Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh was also present,with his age seemingly not making any difference as he moved around.

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President Secretariat officials crossed their fingers as the skies darkened and staffers scurried to bring out hundreds of umbrellas. They heaved a sigh of relief when the rain gods decided not to spoil the evening and the umbrellas were put aside. Except for rossogullas,the famous sweet from Bengal,the food was standard Rashtrapati Bhawan fare with guests picking on matar samosas,pizza,chicken nuggets and plum cake.

As the national anthem was played for the second time,signalling the end of the function,Sonia Gandhi walked up to Vimla Sharma,wife of former President S D Sharma,who came on a wheel-chair to attend the function.