Srirangapatna (Mysore) (PTI): Eight years after his death, Lakshmi Parvathi on Sunday immersed the ashes of N.T. Rama Rao, fulfilling a “vow” to do so once Chandrababu Naidu was ousted.
“I feel relieved and satisfied,” Parvathi, NTR’s widow, said after immersing the ashes of the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister in the Cauvery.
Parvathi said in 1996, she had vowed in front of NTR’s samadhi that she would not rest in peace till Naidu, who had pushed out NTR, was voted out. Next month, she plans to immerse the remaining ashes in the Ganga at Hardwar.
Ahmedabad (PTI): If the Congress’ stunning victory in the Lok Sabha elections has silenced Sonia Gandhi’s rivals, it has got critics in her own party singing a different tune.
Neema Acharya, an MLA from Anjar in Kutch, in March had written a letter to the party president saying the “people of Kutch objected to her quest to become PM”.
“Now that Madam is taking charge, the whole issue is over,” she said on Sunday.
ding her earlier stand, Acharya said: “I was merely representing the people’s thoughts. It is still true that the party would have had a better chance of winning from here if it had not projected Gandhi as the next PM.” The Congress’ Kutch candidate, Shailendrasinh Jadeja, lost to the BJP’s Pushpadhan Ghadvi by a margin of over 28,000 votes.
Lucknow (PTI): Aradhana Shukla, who was removed from the post of Lucknow district magistrate after the sari stampede, has been re-instated.
Shukla and superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan Verma had got the boot on the Election Commission’s instructions following the stampede that took place on April 12 while saris were being distributed to celebrate BJP leader Lalji Tandon’s birthday.
New Delhi (PTI): Success might have brought smiles on the faces of Congress supporters, but some people who have nothing to do with the party are laughing all the way to the bank. For the hawkers outside the Congress headquarters, it is time for brisk business.
Life-size posters, badges, scarves and caps carrying pictures of Prime Minister-designate Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka, are selling like hot cakes.
“People are even ready to pay double the price though I am not charging more,” said Durga Prasad, who has parked himself outside the 24, Akbar Road headquarters for the last two months.
