Indira Gandhi's name dropped from Allahabad marathon ad: Cong

The marathon race held here annually on this day to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi today ran into a controversy after some state Congress leaders alleged that her name was "deliberately dropped" in an advertisement released by the UP government for the event.
The 'All India Prize Money Indira Marathon' has been organised here since 1985 on this day. Gandhi was born in Allahabad on November 19, 1917.
In the advertisement, published in newspapers on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh Information Department, simply called the event as a prize money marathon and the name of Indira Gandhi, whose 98th birth anniversary falls today is "missing".

"This has been the first occasion when an advertisement for the prize money marathon was published by the state Information Department. We would have welcomed the move had the name of the very person in whose memory the race is held was not been dropped mischievously", Congress MLA from Allahabad (North) Anugrah Narain Singh told reporters.
"Indiraji's name could not have been dropped due to an oversight. We suspect it to be part of an ongoing conspiracy to belittle late Congress leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi," he further alleged.
"The ruling Samajwadi Party in the state seems to have taken a cue from the BJP-led government at the Centre. We will take up the matter with sports department officials and raise the matter in the state Assembly", he added.

District Congress president Anil Dwivedi also issued a statement condemning the "deliberate attempt to remove the name of Indiraji from the advertisement relating to an event which is named after her".

Maharashtra's Jyoti Shankar Rao completed the 42.195 km-long run in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 43 seconds to attain the first position, among women runners. Among the men athletes, L Naba Chandra - an army man from Pune - clocked 2 hours, 23 minutes and 55 seconds to bag the first prize.
The amount given to the winner is Rs 2.01 lakh, Rs one lakh for the runners-up, Rs 75,000 for the third position and consolation prizes (11 recipients each among men and women) of Rs 10,000.

Railways' Arvind Kumar Yadav, who had scored a hat-trick in 2012 by winning the race for the third consecutive year, finished a close second this time as he took 2 hours, 24 minutes and 16 seconds to reach the finishing line.
Among the women, Jyoti Singh of Bhadohi was the runners-up and she completed the race in 3 hours, 5 minutes and 22 seconds. Singh has been a winner once and this was the third occasion when she finished second.
The third position holders for men and women, respectively, were Sunil Kumar (Army, Hyderabad) and Shyamali Singh (Burdwan, West Bengal).