By IANS,
New Delhi : With the birthday boy not in town and instructions to keep the affair low key, Congress supporters celebrated party general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s 39th birthday Friday quietly – by cutting a cake and distributing it among the poor.
However, in Uttar Pradesh the jubilant party unit celebrated the day as Samrasta Diwas (social harmony day) and organised ‘sahbhoj’ (community feasts) for the poor and Dalits.
The Gandhi scion is considered the architect of the party’s comeback in the northern state, where it won 22 Lok Sabha seats.
Congress workers in Delhi cut a cake weighing 39 kg at the party headquarters and distributed it among the poor and party workers.
“We also celebrated Rahulji’s birthday by distributing sarees to poor women and gave books and school shoes to their children,” Jagdish Sharma, secretary of the Delhi Congress Committee, told IANS.
According to party sources, the Congress workers had been told to refrain from any grand celebrations.
Shakeel Ahmad, Congress spokesperson who came to address the regular briefing at the party headquarters, said he didn’t know where Rahul Gandhi was celebrating his birthday.
“I really don’t know where he is, but I would like to convey my best wishes to him on the occasion,” Ahmad told reporters in answer to a query on where the Gandhi scion was on his birthday.
Party sources said that Gandhi is in London with his friends for a quiet celebration of his birthday.