National

Ruckus at Maharashtra Congress conclave

— Photo: PTI

Reaching out: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi handing over no-dues certificates to farmers at a rally near Shirdi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on Thursday.

MUMBAI: A daylong conclave of the Maharashtra Congress functionaries here on Thursday turned out to be a major embarrassment for the party leaders as a section of the gathering turned unruly and indulged in sloganeering in the presence of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president, Sonia Gandhi.

The crowd, mostly youngsters, shouted slogans demanding removal of the Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, as Ms. Gandhi and other leaders watched from the dais.

They crashed against the barricade and tried to break through as empty plastic bottles flew. Hundreds of them stood up on plastic chairs to demand removal of the Chief Minister.

An IPS officer rushed towards the mob and collared a leading trouble maker to drag him out. A fisticuff broke out at the other end of the venue. The Union Power Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, however, continued with his address.

The crowd withdrew hastily, fearing police action. The AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, Margaret Alva, made a frantic appeal to stop the sloganeering and declared that workers of other parties who had sneaked in were trying to hamper the meeting.

Mr. Deshmukh’s camp seemed to have anticipated the trouble. This became evident when the Chief Minister rose to address the gathering as a very large number of the audience applauded him.

Ms. Gandhi said in her valedictory address that the United Progressive Alliance government had taken far more pro-people decisions than any other coalition government in the country.

“The Congress has kept almost all of its poll promises and fully implemented the Common Minimum Programme,” she claimed.

Ms. Gandhi said that the Congress did accept the politics of coalition but never compromised on its principles and programme. She said that her party understood farmers’ woes and took measures to help them.

The Congress president did not refer to the sloganeering and interruptions witnessed in her presence but tersely reminded everybody: “Every leader in the party, however big or small was first an activist of the party and that was his or her identity.”

She said that the meeting would boost the morale of the party workers and organisation now when the elections were round the corner.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu