The Hindu : New Delhi News : Rajiv 'forgotten' by partymen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 15, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Rajiv 'forgotten' by partymen

Staff Reporter

Few present at meeting to discuss preparations to mark the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi An upset DPCC chief, Ram Babu Sharma, said he would seek an explanation from each and every individual who was invited for the meeting but did not show up.

NEW DELHI: They might swear by his name from almost every platform and on every occasion, but the elected representatives of the party, including many Delhi Cabinet Ministers, failed to turn up for a meeting at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office on Saturday to discuss preparations to mark the death anniversary of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, falling on May 21.

An upset DPCC chief, Ram Babu Sharma, said he would seek an explanation from each and every individual who was invited for the meeting but did not show up. Only one Delhi Minister and a handful of MLAs along with a large number of Councillors were present at the meeting called to chalk out the programme to mark the death anniversary of their beloved leader. ``We had sent out personal invitations and reminders to each and every individual including Ministers, Members of Parliament and MLAs to attend the meeting. It is unfortunate that not a single Member of Parliament and only one Minister, Yoganand Shastri, turned up for the meeting. This matter should be taken up seriously by the party leadership,'' a party leader remarked.

Prominent among the party legislators who were present were Mahabal Mishra, Meira Bhardwaj, Mateen Ahmed, Vijay Lochav, Anil Bhardwaj, S.P. Singh Bittoo, Bhisham Sharma, Baljore Singh, Ramesh Lamba and Charan Singh Kandera. Prominent senior Congressmen present included Ajit Chadha, Deepak Malhotra, Bansi Lal Mehta, Major Dalbir Singh, Major Ved Prakash, Deepak Bhagat, and Vishwa Bandhu Gupta.

As the meeting began, there was talk about the large absenteeism from among the elected representatives. "All these Ministers, MLAs and other Congressmen swear by the ideals, vision and dynamism of Rajiv Gandhi at various forums but on Saturday they did not even deem it fit to attend a meeting that was organised to decide on what best possible could be done to pay tributes to the former Prime Minister on May 21. They are not so busy that they did not even have time to attend such an important meeting,'' a senior leader added.

Mr. Sharma was clearly upset with the turn of events and after the conclusion of the meeting was seen warning that strict action would be taken against those who failed to turn up.

The meeting decided to organise a big blood donation camp on May 21 at the DPCC lawns where all Congressmen of Delhi would donate blood in memory of the late leader. The blood donation camp will be inaugurated by the party general secretary in charge of Delhi affairs, Ashok Gehlot.

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