Haveri (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written to former US President Barack Obama, extending him an invitation to an event to mark the centenary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi taking over as the President of the Indian National Congress session in Belagavi in the State.
The 39th session of the INC held at the district headquarters town of Belagavi in 1924 was the only Congress session presided over by Mahatma Gandhi.
"I have written a letter (to Obama)....it is hundred years since Mahatma Gandhi became the President of the Belagavi Congress session. So I have invited him (for an event to commemorate it)," Siddaramaiah told reporters here on Tuesday.
According to official sources, it has been decided to hold a joint session of the legislature in Belagavi to mark the occasion and Obama has been invited to it.
"Based on the dates he (Obama) gives, the joint session schedule will be decided," an official added.
On October 2, during a Gandhi Jayanti event, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil, who is also the head of the committee formed for the centenary celebrations, had said that the Congress government was planning to invite Obama to an such event planned in December.
Siddaramaiah had in his independence day speech on August 15 said the state government will take all necessary measures to commemorate the centenary of the Belagavi session of the INC this year in a memorable and meaningful way.
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Raebareli (UP) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attended a meeting of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA), inaugurated a beautification project and laid the foundation stone for the construction of roads in his parliamentary constituency here in Uttar Pradesh.
On the way to Raebareli, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha paid obeisance at a Hanuman temple at Churwa and met party workers.
Soon after his arrival here, Gandhi inaugurated a beautification project undertaken by the municipal corporation in Raebareli at the Degree College intersection.
Subsequently, the Congress leader later laid the foundation stone for road-construction projects under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and then attended the DISHA meeting.
The meeting focused on various public welfare issues, including schemes such as MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and others, officials said.
Gandhi presided over the meeting with administrative officials.
A blueprint for the development of the district was prepared at the meeting and central schemes were reviewed.
This was Gandhi's first meeting with local officials since becoming an MP.
According to the Union Ministry for Rural Development, DISHAs were formed to ensure better coordination among members of Parliament, state legislatures and local governments.
Gandhi left for Lucknow after the meeting.
Later, Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh showed a poster to reporters. In the poster, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader took potshots at Gandhi for spending less time in his constituency.
"It has been more than six months, the MP (Gandhi) has not spent a night in his constituency," he said.
"In the last six months, (Gandhi spent) only five hours. Then in five years, it will be 50 hours. It means in five years, only two days?" the poster, titled "Raebareli ke Rahulji", said, requesting the Congress leader to spend a night in his constituency.