New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday skipped the lunch hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the INDIA bloc allies protesting in Delhi for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a day after SP lawmakers formed a separate group during the Opposition's march from Parliament to Akashvani Bhavan. According to several lawmakers who attended the lunch at Sagar Ratna restaurant on Janpath in Delhi, many enquired about the SP's absence. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had returned to Lucknow after Delhi Police released him following his detention. This is the second INDIA group event Yadav has missed in recent months; he had not attended the INDIA group meeting on September 29 but sent two party leaders instead. Speaking to media in Lucknow on Wednesday, Yadav said that "lunch diplomacy" would not remain confined to a single meal. "In the days ahead, you may also hear of dinner diplomacy and tea diplomacy. We may all be found sitting together eating samosas-that too could become news," Yadav remarked. SP's Udaiveer Singh said Akhilesh Yadav returned on Tuesday night due to commitments related to the Rajya Sabha polls. "We are a regional party, so we have to take care of our commitments in Uttar Pradesh," he said. However, some within the party expressed dissatisfaction with how the protests were being planned. A senior SP MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, attributed the absence primarily to inadequate and delayed communication from the Congress. "Though this won't affect our alliance in any way, proper communication could have saved the Congress from this embarrassing situation," the MP said. The Congress, however, downplayed Yadav's absence from the lunch. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in an X post, "All INDIA janbandhan parties had been invited for today's lunch. But the decision for the lunch was taken late last night and communicated. It was therefore natural that some parties could not be represented."...