President, Sonia pay tributes to Indira Gandhi

New Delhi:  President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi paid tributes to ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 99th birth anniversary at her former residence at Safdarjung Road here.
A prayer meeting was held on the occasion in a separate function held at AICC headquarters. Sonia Gandhi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with top party leaders paid rich floral tributes to Indira Gandhi.
A speech of Indira Gandhi was also played during the programme wherein she had spelt out the responsibilities towards maintaining unity and integrity of the nation as well as protecting the girl child.
Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Bora, Anand Sharma, Randeep Surjewala and others attended the function.
Rahul Gandhi remembered the late leader and his grand mother as a warrior and revolutionary. “Remembering Indiraji:a warrior, a revolutionary, a woman of conviction, compassion & sacrifice. My grandmother, my friend, my ever guiding light,” he said in a tweet.
PM Narendra Modi also paid  tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 99th birth anniversary. “Tributes to former Prime Minster Smt Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary,” he tweeted. Born on 19 November, 1917, Gandhi served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her  assassination in 1984.
Congress traditionally holds Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary function at Shakti Sthal, but the venue was shifted to AICC headquarters in view of closure of the memorial due to bird flu.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday paid tributes to Indira Gandhi on her 99th birth anniversary.
“Respectful regards to our former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi on her birth centenary on Nov 19,” Banerjee said in a tweet. (PTI)