‘Utter rubbish…’: Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha slams Congress amid Manmohan Singh memorial row
Sharmistha Mukharjee said that the Congress party didn't even ‘bother’ to call CWC meeting after Pranab Mukharjee passed away in 2020.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee has slammed the Congress for not holding a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting after her father's demise.
She, however, backed the Congress's request to the Centre for a memorial place for Manmohan Singh, who passed away at 92 on Thursday.
Taking to X, Sharmistha Mukherjee said the Congress didn't even "bother" to call the CWC meeting after Pranab Mukherjee passed away in 2020, saying it wasn't done for the presidents of the country.
“When baba passed away, Congress didnt even bother 2 call CWC 4 condolence meeting. A senior leader told me it’s not done 4 Presidents. Thats utter rubbish as I learned later from baba’s diaries that on KR Narayanan’s death, CWC was called & condolence msg was drafted by baba only,” she wrote in a post.
Her comments come after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded a funeral place for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh where a memorial could be built. Also, Sharmishtha backed the idea of having a memorial for Dr. Singh
“Having said that, a memorial for Dr. Singh is a great idea. He deserves it & also Bharat Ratna which baba as President wanted 2 confer on him; but that didn’t happen perhaps due 2 reasons which don’t need to be spelled out,” she wrote in another X post.
Congress-MHA back and forth on Manmohan Singh memorial
The Congress on Friday said not finding a location for the cremation and memorial of Manmohan Singh was a deliberate insult to the country's first Sikh prime minister.
The party raised the issue after the home ministry said Singh's last rites would be held at New Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat at 11.45 am on Saturday with full state honours.
The Union home ministry said on Friday night that the government will allocate space for a memorial of former prime minister Manmohan Singh and this has been communicated to his family and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge,
In a late-night release titled "Facts of the matter regarding memorial for Former Prime Minister Late Dr Manmohan Singh", the ministry said the government received a request to allocate space for a memorial for Singh from the Congress chief.
Immediately after the Cabinet meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah communicated to Kharge and the family of Manmohan Singh that the government would allocate space for the memorial.
In the meanwhile, cremation and other formalities can happen because a Trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it, the home ministry said.
Singh, who headed the Congress-led UPA government and is credited with economic reforms, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92.
He was India's prime minister for 10 years between 2004 and 2014.
