Indore, Jun 24 (IANS): The Congress, which was in power in Madhya Pradesh till three months ago, faced an embarrassing situation on the death anniversary of Sanjay Gandhi here on Tuesday when the Congress leader's statue was found to have been stolen. Even more embarrassing was the revelation that the statue has been missing for the past 30 years and none of the party leaders had ever complained.

On Tuesday, the party leaders submitted a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Inspector General of Police alleging that the statue of the late leader at a traffic intersection here was removed in the name of development work. The party wants an FIR registered for it. No one seems to know the whereabouts of the statue.

Significantly, Sanjay Gandhi's close friend - Kamal Nath - was Chief Minister during the last anniversary function, but no one talked about the statue. Congress activists say the statue was in place till 1988 along the road in front of MG Road police station.

Then Chief Minister Arjun Singh had announced development of an overbridge called Sanjay Setu. The statue was to be relocated after the construction of the bridge. Three chief ministers - Motilal Vora, Shyama Charan Shukla and Sunderlal Patwa held the reins in the state during later years.

The Municipal Corporation and the Indore Development Authority (IDA) removed the statue citing development activity and the statue was never seen since then.

Party workers say correspondence with the Municipal Corporation and the IDA yielded no result. "It is clear the statue has been stolen and a case should therefore be registered against those responsible for it," says a party activist.