New Delhi: There is hardly any space left in Parliament for new statues of national leaders, but politicians will always squeeze in.
A statue of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran was unveiled in Parliament on Thursday-the humdrum event was significant, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi kept away. Party chief Jayalalitha had sent them invites.
Several Union Ministers, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, BJP leader L K Advani, MDMK leader Vaiko and AIADMK MPs attended the function.
Jayalalitha and Gandhi have not been on good terms for some years though their parties came together in 1998 before the fall of the BJP-led government at the Centre. The Congress is now aligned with the DMK at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu.
The AIADMK is also part of the Third Front floated by Sonia critics UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu.
Jayalalithaa said the Prime Minister had extended his best wishes for the function and could not attend due to a pressing engagement.
The inauguration season isn’t over though: a statue of late DMK leader Murasoli Maran will be unveiled in Parliament on Friday. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi will be present and many important leaders are expected to attend the function.
Maran has the distinction of serving five Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha terms, but the AIADMK has often questioned his eligibility to join nearly 70 others national leaders in the Parliament complex as a statue.
The AIADMK says Ramachandran deserves a place in Parliament because as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu he earned a demigod-like status for his welfare programmes and pro-poor policies.
Also on Thursday, Chatterjee unveiled the statue of late MP Bhupesh Gupta, a luminary of the Communist movement. Gupta, popular as 'Bhupeshda', was involved with the Communist movement in the 1930s. He was the longest serving member in the Rajya Sabha at the time of his death in 1981.
(With inputs from PTI)
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