Whitewashed

BHOPAL: The house was whitewashed, the food ready, the charpoy laid out, but the guest gave it a miss.

Pramila Kumre, an anganwadi worker in Abaadipura village of Hoshangabad district, was left disappointed on Sunday night as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was to eat and stay at her house, changed plans and spent the night at a government rest house.

The leader was apparently annoyed at the arrangements to make his stay comfortable and left in a huff. Sources in the Congress said he was angry that the party's local unit had whitewashed houses in the village, renovated Pramila's house and bought a mattress for Rahul's comfort. But the Gandhi scion told the state Congress bosses that he could do without these facilities, a source said.

Pramila had been preparing for the VVIP visit since Saturday. An NGO in Hoshangabad had approached her to open her house for the AICC general secretary and the high-profile state Congress delegation with him. She was told to clean her house and make a bed appropriate for the Congress general secretary to sleep on.

No doubt she was thrilled. While her house was decked up for the occasion with ceramic tiles on the floor and new commode and cistern in her bathroom, her mother-in-law got busy since Sunday morning, preparing raw mango and tomato chutney, makke ki roti , lentil and rice for Rahul. [link]

Poverty fetish.