Tailpiece

Huge cutouts of former prime ministers as also distinguished Congress leaders were installed on the dais at the national convention of Block and District Congress Committee presidents in New Delhi on Sunday. They included Mahatma Gandhi,Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel,Abul Kalam Azad,Jawaharlal Nehru,Lal Bahadur Shastri,Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Huge cutouts of Rahul Gandhi were also put up near the dais. The only notable exception was former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao,who found no place either on the dais or anywhere at the Ramlila Ground,which was turned into a hall of fame with cutouts and posters of party leaders right from pre-Independence days. Incidentally,while a party leader from Rae Bareli was addressing the convention,azaan was heard from a nearby mosque. While nobody seemed to pay any attention to it,Congress president Sonia Gandhi beckoned to Defence Minister A K Antony to ask the speaker to stop his speech until azaan was over.