United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi was the host when her alliance partners and their spouses came for dinner at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi on Thursday.

Gandhi, who is also the Congress president, hosted the get-together in the backdrop of the recent spat between two senior Cabinet ministers from Bihar -- Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several of his Cabinet colleagues were prominent among those came.

It was the first such occasion since the Congress-led alliance came to power six months ago.

The effort was aimed at bringing greater cohesion in the alliance ahead of the assembly polls in three states, including Bihar.