President Pranab Mukherjee will share the dais with Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on May 13 when a book to commemorate the birth centenary celebrations of former prime minister Indira Gandhi will be released.
The book, “India’s Indira – A Centennial Tribute”, is edited by Congress leader Anand Sharma, and will be released by Vice President Ansari at a gala function to be held at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
President Mukherjee, according to Congress sources, had agreed to receive the first copy of the book. It will be handed over to him by Sonia Gandhi. All three are expected to address the gathering.
Advertisement
As invitation cards for the function were sent out, eyebrows were raised about the “correctness” of the President’s presence at the largely Congress gathering, and that too when he was not actually releasing the book. However, a Congress leader said it is not the first time that President Mukherjee will attend an overtly political function.
A self-proclaimed “Indira Gandhi loyalist” during his long political innings before moving into Rashtrapati Bhavan, he had also delivered the Indira Gandhi Centennial lecture on November 19, last year, which had kicked off the year-long celebrations. Not shying away from his past life as a Congressman, Mukherjee had also delivered the first Arjun Singh memorial lecture in April 2016 and later in September felicitated senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde at his 75thbirthday celebrations.
