Pranab Mukherjee skips Rajiv Gandhi anniversary

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari were conspicuous by their absence at the memorial to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary on Thursday, apparently against the backdrop of new government's decision that such functions will be a non- governmental affair. Both the leaders had visited ‘Vir Bhumi’, the memorial to the late leader, in previous years to pay their homage but did not do so today.

 

Rajiv’s wife and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi and son-in-law Robert Vadra offered flowers at the memorial. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and a number of party leaders including P.C. Chacko, Oscar Fernandes, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ajay Maken were among those who paid tributes to the leader.

 

Explaining the President’s absence, Rashtrapati Bhawan sources said that the Congress party, which organised the function, was following the new government’s decision that such functions should be either family or party affair.