Government created difficulties for Nehru conference: Congress

The Congress Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of "creating difficulties" in holding an international conference on Jawaharlal Nehru.

Party leader Anand Sharma, who was the convener of the organising committee of the conference, expressed unhappiness with the electronic media over the coverage of the conference, saying that even foreign leaders "were shocked (over the poor coverage)".

"It (the government) was not interested that the conference takes place. We were denied Vigyan Bhavan (the venue) on Nov 14 (Nehru's birth anniversary) when it was not being used," Sharma told the media after the conclusion of the two-day conference.

He said a circular was sent to the Indian missions stating that if there was any inquiry from world leaders about the conference, they should be told to contact the Congress party directly.

He said there was "difficulty at every step" but "our cadres remained focused".

"If the government did not want to cooperate" it should not have made "sharp remarks", he said.

Sharma defended the party's move not to invite the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the event.

He said any invite from the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to the Congress for any event will not be acceptable.