Gandhi family takes over, PV edged out of posters

Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao is all but forgotten in the Congress’ election paraphernalia in Jharkhand, splashed across wit...

Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao is all but forgotten in the Congress’ election paraphernalia in Jharkhand, splashed across with names and pictures of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

Except for a photograph incorporated in its 3×8 feet banner put up at the Congress office here where general secretary Oscar Fernandes released the party manifesto recently, the late Prime Minister was kept out of propaganda material. The picture is no different for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh either.

Asked why Rao did not find place in the banner with pictures of Congress PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, Fernandes had no reply. Nor did Congress state unit president Sushila Kerketta.

‘‘Ab jab Raoji choot gaye toh koi kya jawab de? (What answer can anybody give now that Rao has been left out?)’’ said a Congress worker after the press conference.

Six different sizes and shapes of posters pasted on the walls of the party offices had pictures of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Meanwhile, TDP pitches for Rao memorial

NEW DELHI

: In the name of Andhra pride, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has taken up the cause of converting late PM P.V. Narasimha Rao’s bungalow into a memorial. TDP leader Yerran Naidu on Sunday criticised the UPA for refusing a memorial and said he would raise the issue in Parliament.

‘‘This is very unfortunate. He was a PM and king of economic reforms. This government is against Narasimha Rao,’’ Naidu said at a press conference. ‘‘From Nehru’s time, all PMs have their memorial here but not Narasimha Rao…” The UPA’s hesitation was all the more shocking as Andhra had 29 MPs from Andhra on the ruling side, he said.