By IANS
New Delhi : Chaos and confusion reigned during the post-lunch session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) at the fortified Talkatora Indoor Stadium. As thousands of Congress supporters tried to surge past barricades outside and enter the venue through the many gates, a strong police contingent stopped them. Some journalists had to wait for nearly two hours before being allowed entry by senior police officers who apologized profusely for the hold-up. One officer remarked that the party should find a better venue the next time.
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Why not make the best of a visit to Delhi, that too when the weather is just right? Well, that’s what a group of delegates from south India did while taking a break from some of the monotonous speeches. Having gorged on a sumptuous meal, many sauntered to enjoy the sights and sounds of the nearby Rashtrapathi Bhavan while some flagged down auto-rickshaws to have a quick ‘deko’ of the city. But there were others who decided to make their escapade more purposeful and made a beeline for a fair on diabetes round the corner.
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You can always bank on the Congress organisers to throw a lavish spread when it comes to annual jamborees. The lunch was an epicurean’s delight with papri chaat, golgappas, dahi bhalla, aloo tikki, chila, navaratan korma et al. Even at breakfast, the fare was not disappointing. The south Indian delegates happily tucked into dosas and mouth-watering sambar and chutneys.
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Labour Minister and Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes is surely a devoted husband. Well that’s the conclusion that most Congress delegates arrived at. His wife Blossom was constantly by his side. He escorted her in and out of the venue and sat by her patiently at lunch, much to the surprise of inquisitive scribes. The only time they parted was when he had to take his seat on the dais. Even then Blossom was within his eyesight distance.
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Talking about the dais, it was almost like a revolving door kind of syndrome among Congressmen, all clamouring to know who would be seated with party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. No sooner had a delegate walked off fleetingly for a short while he would find his place taken by somebody else. And this exercise carried on for a while much to the chagrin of delegates who found themselves unseated. But there were others who were content to sit out with the masses such as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.