Congress workers celebrate Sonia Gandhi’s 61st birthday

By IANS

New Delhi : All roads led to 10, Janpath, for Congress workers and party activists Sunday as they made a beeline to greet party chief Sonia Gandhi on her 61st birthday with good wishes, singing, dancing and laddoos.


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One of the first to greet the party president was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who drove to her house early in the morning. President Pratibha Patil sent in a bouquet with greetings.

Other important Congress leaders, including Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Moti Lal Vora, Girja Vyas, Suresh Kalmadi, drove up to their leader’s residence to greet her.

A young boy, barely 13-14 years old, sat outside 24, Akbar Road, the headquarters of the Congress party next door, since early Sunday with a huge portrait of Sonia Gandhi set on a table, with “Happy birthday Sonia Gandhi” lettered on a cake. Next to the cake and the portrait lay two-three boxes of laddoos to offer on her birthday.

Pintoo, as he called himself, claimed to have come all the way from Najafgarh, on the outskirts of the capital, to celebrate Gandhis’ birthday.

This boy had no hope of actually going up to Sonia Gandhi and greeting her ‘happy birthday’. But unmindful of that, he sat happily on a chair offering a piece of laddoo to anyone taking notice of his dedication to his leader. Of course, he would not allow anyone to touch the cake because somehow he still dreamt of Gandhi personally walking up to him and cutting it before him.

This boy was one of hundreds of Congress workers and supporters who bustled around 24, Akbar Road even as the sun played hide and seek on a chilly Sunday morning.

Nearby, a troupe of tribal artistes from Karnataka with drums and blow-horns and large colourful masks sang and danced to entertain the audience, hoping the party president would give them an audience and allow them to perform before her.

They were brought from Mandya in south Karnataka, the stronghold of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, by Congress MP and former union minister Ambareesh, who is also a well-known Telugu film star.

The entrance at the head of the lane leading to Sonia’s residence was heavily barricaded. That did not deter Youth Congress activists, who stood on the barricades and raised slogans “Sonia Gandhi zindabad, Youth Congress zindabad (Long Live Sonia Gandhi, Long Live Youth Congress)”.

Not to be left behind, Congress Seva Dal volunteers marched up and down a stretch of Akbar Road, which was bedecked with large portraits of Sonia Gandhi right down from one end roundabout to the other.

Congress workers in other parts of the country too celebrated the party chief’s birthday in their own way. In Puducherry, Congress men pulled a golden chariot at Sri Manakala Vinayakar temple to seek the lord’s blessings for Gandhi.

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