Patna: Senior Congress leaders faced major embarassment on Thursday when they were denied entry to Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Devanand Konwar to submit a memorandum against the MNREGA irregularities in Bihar.
The Congress leaders included Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and AICC secretary Pawan Bansal, state party president Choudhary Mahboob Ali Kaiser, Bihar Youth Congress president Lalan Kumar and Congress Flagship Committee chairman Vijay Shanker Dubey had walked down from R block roundabout to Rajbhavan to submit the memorandum after sitting on a dharna.
Congress leader Vijay Shankar Mishra claimed that prior permission to meet the governor at 4 pm had been obtained by the party. "It was unfortunate that even a senior leader like Pawan Bansal was not allowed entry (into the Raj Bhavan)," he said.
Peeved with the incident NSUI workers and Youth Congress workers shouted anti-governor slogans demanding that he be recalled.
As the slogan shouting continued for sometime near the Raj Bhawan, district authorities intervened and persuaded the Congress supporters to vacate the high security area.
When contacted, Konwar told a news agency that he was not aware of a meeting scheduled with the Congress delegation. "Moreover I had not granted appointment to anybody at 4 p m."
Former MPs Desai Choudhary, Anil Kumar, Ram Naresh Yadav and several senior state Congress leaders, besides a large number of party workers participated in the dharna to highlight alleged irregularities in implementation of MNREGA in Bihar. They sought the governor`s intervention in the issue.
PTI
