Sarpanch fails to meet Rahul, upset

Oct 19, 2011 |

Age Corespondent

New Delhi

It was communication gap and confusion all over, as the sarpanch of Anna Hazare’s village and his colleagues on Tuesday failed to meet AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi with whom they claimed to have an appointment. The

disenchanted sarpanch and his colleagues from Ralegan Siddhi returned home saying that now even if they get a direct appointment from Mr Gandhi, the village will decide whether to meet the Congress leader or not. Congress MP from Kerala P.T. Thomas, who had interacted with them and had reportedly fixed the meeting, apologised for the “communication gap” that led to the confusion.
On being denied a meet with Mr Gandhi, close Hazare associate Suresh Pathare said, “We have come here after being told that we have an appointment with Rahul Gandhi on October 18 at 9 am. We came here believing the words of the MP. Now the MP says there was a communication gap. We are returning home.”
Mr Pathare said, “We have said in our letter seeking appointment with Mr Gandhi that we want to meet him as suggested by the MP. We were contacted by Mr Thomas’ office several times. Even Rahul Gandhi’s office called the sarpanch several times.”
The Anna aide said now they are not meeting Mr Gandhi as it appeared that there were some “ego problems” and “the village panchayat will decide whether to meet him if an appointment comes in the future”.
A team of six members from Ralegan Siddhi, led by sarpanch Jaisingh Mapari, met Mr Thomas at his residence here on Tuesday morning to sort out the matter. Mr Mapari claimed he received several calls from Mr Gandhi’s office on the issue of the appointment. Mr Thomas said his office “mistakenly” asked Mr Mapari to come to Delhi after October 15. “There was a communication gap. I apologise to the sarpanch.” But he denied Mr Pathare’s contention that it was he who asked them to meet Mr Gandhi.
The Congress did not appear to be amused with Mr Thomas. “These were personal ventures of Mr Thomas... there was no consent from the AICC,” a Congress leader said.

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