Gandhis skipped visit to Kamaraj memorial despite request from Congress functionary

The reason for the disappointment is due to him skipping an unscheduled visit to the memorial of former AICC president Kamaraj in the city.

Congress Chennai district president Karate Thiyagarajan had made a request to TNCC president S Thirunavukkarasar requesting him to urge both Rahul and Sonia to pay floral tributes at the Kamaraj memorial in Guindy. In fact, Thiyagarajan had circulated a copy of his letter written to Thirunavukkarasar then, asking him to take both the national leaders to the memorial, located on their way from the airport to the DMK headquarters.

However, the wish of Thiyagarajan did not come true as Rahul and Sonia stuck to their itinerary. They did not visit any place other than the DMK HQ and the Royapettah rally venue. Ironically, the same Rahul, during his previous visits, including the one’s made when the DMK was a part of UPA-II, had visited the TNCC headquarters Sathyamurthy Bhavan and avoided visiting Karunanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence.

It was widely rumored in the state Congress circles that the request made by Thiyagarajan was not even conveyed to the national leaders. However, Congress sources said the itinerary of such VVIPs are prepared much in advance with the approval of special protection group and that it was not possible to make last-minute detours. More than the leaders, the consent must be given by the security personnel. Hence it was not possible to organise a tribute to Kamarajar, a Congress functionary reasoned.