The absences left the Saturday-night gathering at Bharat Mandapam dominated by chief ministers from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, alongside Union ministers, visiting leaders and other dignitaries. Officials, however, maintained that Opposition-led states had not been excluded from the guest list.
The chief ministers invited but absent were V D Satheesan of Kerala, D K Shivakumar of Karnataka, A Revanth Reddy of Telangana and C Joseph Vijay of Tamil Nadu. Three of them — Satheesan, Shivakumar and Reddy — lead Congress governments, while Vijay heads Tamil Nadu’s government.
Reddy had initially accepted the invitation, according to officials familiar with the arrangements, but his office later informed the Union government that he would be unable to attend because of unavoidable circumstances. Vijay was abroad at the time of the dinner. No common political reason was officially cited by the four state governments for their absence.
The issue drew attention because several chief ministers aligned with the governing National Democratic Alliance attended. Among those present were Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Senior members of the Union government, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, were also present. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attended the dinner.
The guest list has also become politically sensitive because Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi were not invited to the dinner. Their absence was separate from that of the chief ministers, who had received invitations, and officials sought to distinguish the two issues.
Government sources said inviting chief ministers from different states was consistent with India’s effort during its BRICS presidency to involve regions beyond the national capital in events linked to the grouping. They described the non-attendance of the invited Opposition chief ministers as unfortunate but did not accuse the state leaders of staging a coordinated boycott.
The gala dinner formed part of the two-day BRICS summit held in New Delhi on September 12 and 13 under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. Leaders of the expanded bloc met at Bharat Mandapam for discussions covering global governance, trade, development, technology, climate issues and international security.
The summit brought together leaders from BRICS member states, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as representatives of partner countries and international organisations.
Putin and several other foreign leaders attended the dinner. Xi did not attend the evening event, while Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had left after participating in summit engagements earlier in the day.
The dinner followed the first day of summit discussions and the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration, which reaffirmed commitments to reform global governance, strengthen multilateral institutions and expand the role of developing countries in international decision-making. The declaration also addressed conflicts, trade, energy security, climate resilience and cooperation among BRICS members.
The evening programme included a cultural presentation built around the theme of shared traditions across BRICS countries. Musicians and performers from participating states took part in a collaborative programme, while the meal featured vegetarian dishes representing different regional cuisines from across India.
