Mangalore: Comedy of Errors— When Congress Activists Garland BJP Minister !
Pics: Ganesh S Perla
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)
Mangalore, Aug 10: In what can be termed a hilarious case of mistaken identity, Congress party workers ended up felicitating state home minister Dr V S Acharya instead of their leader and union minister for law M Veerappa Moily, on Monday August 10.
The incident took place at Thokkottu Circle near Ullal where Congress activists were waiting with garlands and firecrackers to extend a rousing welcome to Moily who was on his maiden visit to the district after being inducted into the union cabinet.
No sooner did they see the convoy of vehicles, complete with a police escort, revolving red beacon, and blaring siren, than they began bursting the firecrackers.
Seeing this, the police escort and the convoy stopped there. One of the waiting Congress leaders approached the convoy and to his shock found Dr Acharya instead of Moily!
Without the slightest hint of embarrassment at such a major gaffe, the Congress leader, MLA U T Khader went ahead and felicitated him by draping a shawl and the two shook hands cordially while someone else garlanded the minister.
Dr Acharya was also en route the same programme that Moily was to attend.
A few minutes after the incident, Moily reached the spot and was accorded a warm welcome.
A Congress worker later said that the felicitation to Dr Acharya was definitely a mistake. He added that in the first instance there were no smiles on their faces, but the second one saw more than its share of smiles!