CONGRESS SANDESH COMPLETES ITS SEVEN YEAR

ANDHRA PRADESHSandesh Yatra Appeal to MaoistsThe Gandhi Sandesh Yatra of the Congress concluded on 15June with the leaders asking Maoists to give up violence andjoin the mainstream. The Chief Minister, Dr. Y.S. RajasekharReddy, flagged off the final leg of the yatra from near theMahatma Gandhi statue in the Assembly premises. He alsowalked seven kilometres along with the APCC president, Dr.K. Keshava Rao, and other party leaders till the yatra reachedthe Charminar.Ironically, even as the yatra ended with speeches about thefutility of the armed struggle, the Maoists threatened TRSleaders with violence if they did not break off ties with theCongress. The yatra had been flagged off by the former unionminister for sports, Shri Sunil Dutt, more than a month ago.He passed away before it reached its conclusion. Speakingat a function organized at the Charminar, Dr. RajasekharReddy, renewed his appeal to the Maoists to give up armsand join hands with the government to bring aboutdevelopment. “We have done everything demanded byMaoists,” he said. “We are committed to the welfare of thepoor and the downtrodden. The Maoists should give up theiroutdated ideology. Even four more decades of armed strugglewill be an exercise in futility.” Though the Congress had lostseveral of its leaders to extremist violence, it was committedto peace, he said. All the Congress leaders who spoke in thefunction heaped praises on Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi,Rajiv Gandhi and Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Keshava Rao saidhis dream was to see the state free itself from factionalism,caste wars and communalism. Several leaders including ShriMukul Wasnik, Smt. Margaret Alva and Shri Oscar Fernandesspoke on the occasion.Diet Money RaisedStates WatchHAJIPUR: Various organizations in Vaishali district havethanked the National Human Rights Commission and formergeneral secretary of the Bihar Pradesh Youth CongressBackward Class Cell, Shri Vijay Kumar Gupta for havingpersuade the cause of the poor people who do not get properdiet in government hospitals in the state of Bihar. With theefforts of Shri Gupta, the Health and Family Welfaredepartment of Bihar has now increased the amount of moneyspent every day on the diet of the patients. The present dietmoney is Rs. 25/- per patient compared to just Rs. 10/-earlier.Congratulations to Sonia GandhiHAJIPUR: The Youth Congress workers organized a meetinghere on 4 June to express their happiness over the re-electionof the Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi for the thirdsuccessive term. Sweets were distributed. The meeting waspresided over by Bihar Pradesh Youth Congress CommitteeBackward Class Cell’s former general secretary, Shri VijayKumar Gupta. He said the re-election of Smt. Sonia Gandhiis the result of her sacrifices. By her sacrifice Smt. Gandhihas earned a good reputation in India and abroad.Homage to Dr. Hardikar␣␣Those who participated in praising were Shri ShailendraKumar Singh, Shri Jagdish Thakur, Shri Ravindra Nath Singh,Shri Harihar Patel, Shri Anil Kumar and Shri Vinay Kumar.MUZAFFARPUR: The Bihar Pradesh Congress Sewa Dalcommemorated the birth anniversary of Shri (Dr.) NarayanRao Subbarao Hardikar, the founder of the Sewa Dal, here on7 May. On the occasion the Sewa Dal workers offered floraltributes to Dr. Hardikar by placing garlands to his photograph.Pradesh Sewa Dal chief organizer, Shri Dalit Kumar, presidedover the function.The meeting also condoled the death of Maj. Gen. Jagjit SinghAurora, the hero of the 1971 Indo-Pak war.DELHITree Plantation Drive on Sanjay’s␣AnniversaryNEW DELHI: The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committeeorganized tree-plantation drive on the occasion of the 25 thdeath anniversary of Shri Sanjay Gandhi here on 23 rd June.22Congress SandeshJuly, 2005