If you thought Karnataka Congress partymen placed Sonia above everything else, then think again. At least, for party workers in Mandya, badoota (a non-veg feast), seems to score over their party chief.
Why else would the ruling Congress go back to its earlier schedule of organising AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s thanksgiving programme on Monday instead of Friday, October 4?
Though Sonia was scheduled to visit the state’s sugar bowl on September 30 to thank people for electing Congress candidates in the two byelections to the Lok Sabha, the party had deferred the event to October 4. Later, local party leaders discovered that the revised date clashed with the non-veg feast on October 4, which is part of Mahalaya Amavasya - a festival observed by Hindus to remember and respect their ancestors.
“It would be a Herculean task to mobilise people to come out of their houses on that day,’’ a local leader who didn’t wish to be named told Express adding that he along with other district leaders prevailed upon KPCC president G Parameshwara and district-in-charge Minister M H Ambareesh stick to the earlier schedule on Sept 30 (Monday).
The festival is observed in all parts of old Mysore in a big way and it would be difficult to mobilise big crowds from Ramangaram, Tumkur, Hassan, Bangalore and Mysore, the leader said.