New Delhi, April 27 :
New Delhi, April 27:
For the rest of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru died on May 27, 1964.
But for the Uttar Pradesh
power board, India's first Prime Minister is still alive and
liable to cough up dues of Rs 2.27 lakh run up by his ancestral
house, Anand Bhavan, in
Allahabad.
Nehru's name is 126th on
the defaulters' list drawn up by the electricity board. The sprawling bungalow was witness to several momentous decisions taken during the freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi used to stay in one of the rooms during the freedom struggle.
Now run by a trust, Anand Bhavan houses a museum
displaying the memorabilia
of the Nehru-Gandhi family and collects an entry fee of Rs 5
per visitor.
The defaulters' list has intrigued state Congressmen, who have wasted no time in smelling a government ploy to tarnish the Nehru family's name.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Sriprakash Jaiswal said Anand Bhavan trustee R.N. Sethi had told him that the trust had never been given a notice for dues.
'It has been 38 years since Nehruji died. How has the power board woken up now?' Jaiswal asked.
Jaiswal has threatened to launch a statewide agitation if the list was not withdrawn.
AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai demanded an inquiry by Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri. 'Uttar Pradesh is under Governor's rule and Shastri is responsible for this,'
she said. 'It shows Uttar Pradesh
is being run by people who
know nothing.'