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Rahul to pay tribute to Ambedkar pic not statue in Mayawati land
Bombay News.Net
Wednesday 14th April, 2010 (IANS)
Denied permission to garland a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in this town
named after him, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has opted to
offer floral tributes to a picture of the architect of the
constitution on his birth anniversary here Wednesday.
Local Congress workers have hastily mobilised a large portrait of
Ambedkar, which has been placed prominently at the venue of a party
rally to be addressed by Gandhi on the occasion that also coincides
with the leader flagging off 'yatras' on the Congress' 125 years.
The Congress and Uttar Pradesh's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have
been at loggerheads ever since Gandhi declared his plans to kick off
the Congress' 125th anniversary campaign in Ambedkarnagar, widely
known as BSP supremo and chief minister Mayawati's bastion.
'As Rahul-ji was coming all the way to Ambedkarnagar on an occasion
like Babasaheb's birth anniversary, it was natural for him to garland
his statue here, but the administration has created so many hurdles
that Rahul Gandhi would now garland Babasaheb's portrait,' said
spokesperson of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Subodh Srivastava.
Officials in the administration deny allegations that they hastily got
down to finding ways and means to prevent Gandhi from garlanding
Ambedkar's statue in the town.
'No permission was sought by the Congress party for garlanding the
Ambedkar statue so where is the question of denial of permission,'
said an official.
Srivastava retorted: 'Well, I do not think we need to take the
government's permission to garland the statue of a revered national
leader - that too on his birth anniversary.
As the war of words continued, the administration placed a heavy
security ring around the statue, preventing anyone from venturing into
the cordoned off area.
'The security is there only to prevent any untoward incident and in
the larger interest of law and order,' Ambedkarnagar District
Magistrate Vikram Singh told IANS.
Tensions between the Congress and the BSP, which reveres Ambedkar as
an icon, have been continuing for a while.
The administration had earlier refused Gandhi access to a particular
ground for his rally, compelling him to settle for another venue in
the neighbourhood. That ground was formally 'reserved' for a similar
show by the BSP.
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