After failing to announce a public holiday on the occasion of birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh the State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday tasted another bitter pill as several hundred empty chairs kept staring at top brass of the party leadership including Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and party incharge J&K Avinash Rai Khanna in the heart of walled city of Jammu during the Accession Day celebrations.
The organisers of the special event had failed to mobilise adequate number of people to fill the seats placed in the pandal.
More than three dozen rows remained vacant while Deputy Chief Minister was addressing the gathering which largely consisted of office bearers of different wings, staunch party loyalists. Common masses in general showed no interest in attending the event.
Ironically, as alliance partner in the State Government senior BJP Cabinet Ministers also failed to convince Peoples Democratic Party to organise a formal function to celebrate the historic day. On October 26, 1947 Maharaja Hari Singh had signed Instrument of Accession after deciding to join the Union of India.
Shops in the area remained closed and public transport was diverted causing lot of hardships to daily commuters passing through the area.
Separate programs were organsied by various other socio-political organisations to mark the historic day. Grandsons of Maharaja Hari Singh, Vikramaditya Singh and BJP MlC Ajatshatru Singh offered floral tributes to Maharaja Hari Singh and distributed specially prepared 71 kg 'laddu' among the masses.Another function was organsied to pay tributes to saviour of Kashmir Brigadier Rajinder Singh Jamwal. Floral tributes were paid to him by senior army officers, ex-servicemen and people from different walks of life.