By IANS,
New Delhi : A team from Anna Hazare’s village Tuesday returned home disappointed at not meeting Rahul Gandhi as the Congress general secretary’s office clarified that no appointment had been given and an MP tried to clear the air by apologising for the “miscommunication”.
It appeared to be a case of confusion confounded with the upset delegation from Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra saying that they would no longer wanted to meet Gandhi.
Idukki MP P.T. Thomas said: “There was a communication gap in my office and for that I apologise to the sarpanch (village head) and other members coming from Ralegan Siddhi. There is no meeting scheduled for today (Tuesday).”
The three-member team, including social activist Hazare’s personal secretary Suresh Pathare and village sarpanch Jaisingh Rao Mapari, had reached the capital Monday to meet Gandhi but could not meet him as they did not have an appointment.
The team said they got a call from Thomas and Gandhi’s offices confirming the appointment.
“We got an appointment call from offices of Thomas and Gandhi. Gandhi’s office even asked us details of people who will meet him. That’s why we have come. Now we don’t feel like meeting Gandhi,” Mapari said.
But both Thomas and Gandhi’s office denied that any appointment was given to them.
“It is incorrect to say that we gave them an appointment. In fact, no one (from the office) called them. It is totally wrong to claim that Rahul Gandhi had invited them for a meeting,” an official at Gandhi’s office told IANS.
Thomas said that when he visited Ralegan Siddhi in September, the sarpanch and the deputy sarpanch had expressed their desire to meet Rahul Gandhi.
“They sent a letter to me Sep 10 requesting to arrange a meeting with Gandhi. No meeting was confirmed,” he added.
But Pathare said the meeting was to be facilitated by Thomas.
“We have come here without any political motives. When we came here we realised there were a lot of controversies around our visit. There seems to be a lot of ego problems. Now we do not want to meet Gandhi and we are going home now.”
“Thomas’ office was continuously in touch with us and told us that they have fixed an appointment for 9 a.m. Oct 18,” he added.
The team will leave Tuesday for Ralegan Siddhi.
Thomas had on Monday clarified that media reports about the meeting between Gandhi and Ralegan Siddhi villagers was “false” and “baseless.”
He had said he was surprised to see the news reports about the meeting.