Former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik on Thursday visited Jorala village with several Congress leaders of the district to meet poverty- stricken 82-year-old Mandodari, the widow of Raghu Nayak, who was a close aide of Mahatma Gandhi and provided Rs 6,000 along with a shawl and a saree to her.
The former PCC president also promised to provide Rs 500 per month as financial assistance to her from the State unit of the Congress and assured her to take steps for constructing her house if the State Government fails to do it.
It may be noted here that the district administration on Tuesday had sanctioned Rs 500 as old age pension per month to Mandoadari and also disbursed Rs 30,000 to her from the Chief Minister Relief Fund after the after the widow’s plight was highlighted in media. Notably, Mandadori’s husband Nayak was working as a gardener at Birla House in New Delhi, the residence of Mahatma Gandhi. He had grappled with Nathuram Godse and pinned him down after Godse fired lethal shots at Gandhi on January 30, 1948.