Now Congress plans public pledge on Nehru's 125th birth anniversary

The party plans to have President Sonia Gandhi administer a pledge “to cherish and value Nehru’s vision and ideals of a secular India.” The Congress party is on an overdrive to ensure nothing upstages its plans for the birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister.

All Congress offices across the country will be illuminated for two days and special programmes are planned to mark the occasion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already decided to turn October 31 into a national celebration of Sardar Patel, the country’s first home minister, to mark his 139th birth anniversary.

Earlier during the Congress’ rule at the Centre, the very day was primarily observed as the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was assassinated by her bodyguards 30 years ago.

This year, no one from the Bharatiya janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government visited Shakti Sthal - the memorial to Indira Gandhi.

The senior leadership of the Congress, however, denied that it is borrowing the idea from PM Modi, who administered two public pledges last month on the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.