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Sonia to open mega Congress conclave

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the conference, in which several senior party leaders will participate. The presence of the chief ministers and Sonia is considered significant as their discussions will be more than the listed subject of panchayati raj (self-rule at grassroots level) and the contribution of the party for the development of an Independent India.

The beautiful island, 400 km from Cochin, presented a festive look for receiving a galaxy of dignitaries. The Mahasangamam is being held at Rajiv Nagar, named after Rajiv Gandhi, who took a major initiative for implementing the panchayati raj system.

The three square km island, considered the headquarters of the northern group of islands, has a population of only 6,447 according to the 1991 census. People of the island, which was part of Mangalore taluka (division) till the reorganisation of states in November 1956, fought the Portuguese and killed many of them with snake poison.

The site of the historic event is known as Pampinpalli (Snake Mosque).

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed, who won the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency as a Congress candidate for the tenth time consecutively since the formation of the constituency in 1967, said all chief ministers have confirmed participation.

They are Vilasrao Deshmukh of Maharashtra, Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, S M Krishna of Karnataka, S C Jamir of Nagaland, Mukut Mithi of Arunachal Pradesh, Sheila Dikshit of Delhi and P Shanmugham of Pondicherry.

Sayeed said conferences held in Lakshadweep were always followed by important developments. In that sense this Mahasangamam is also very significant, he said.

Former Union minister P J Kurien, former Kerala Assembly speaker A C Jose, MP, All-India Congress Committee secretary Mani Shanker Aiyar, Ramesh Chennithala, MP, and former Kerala food minister T H Musthafa are also scheduled to address the Mahasangamam.

Lakshadweep has a literacy rate of 98 per cent, Sayeed pointed out, recalling that this was only 27 per cent in 1967. Lakshadweep is the only territory where 100 per cent houses are electrified. This smallest union territory consists of 11 inhabited and 25 uninhabited islands, lying scattered in the Arabian sea, about 220 to 440 km to the west of Kerala.

UNI

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