Congress pays tribute to Rajiv Gandhi

The Congress paid tributes to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 18th death anniversary, three days after Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who ordered his assassination, was killed in Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu, where Rajiv was assassinated, paid a quiet homage. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children, Priyanka and Rahul, were advised against travelling to Tamil Nadu because of a threat from stray LTTE cadres following Prabhakaran’s death. The family, including Rajiv’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, paid floral tributes to the leader in New Delhi.

President Pratibha Patil, prime minister Manmohan Singh, vice president Hamid Ansari, defence minister AK Antony, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and several leaders of the Congress and the UPA, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were present.

The day is also marked as anti-terrorism day. To commemorate it, a peace torch reached Sriperumbudur from Karnataka through Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Government officials, including corporation officials, took the anti-terrorism oath.
The Tamil Nadu Congress unit held homage programmes at the party headquarters and Rajiv’s statues at Chennai and Sriperumbudur.