The Food Security Bill seen as a game-changer by the Congress for the 2014 lok Sabha election has apparently failed to inspire the confidence of majority of senior party leaders from Bihar who remained absent at the first ever national workshop organised on the bill at the State Congress headquarters, Sadaquat Ashram on Tuesday.
Though the date for the workshop was fixed well in advance, a large number of senior leaders, including former State Congress presidents like Sadanand Singh, Anil Sharma, Ramjatan Sinha, Mehboob Ali Kaiser and Chandan Bagchi were not present in the workshop.
Not only four Congress MlAs, but lone MlC Jyoti, majority of former MPs and former MlCs also did not take part in the workshop, which was scheduled to be attended by the AICC general secretary and party in charge for Bihar, CP Joshi.
Joshi, however, could not visit Patna due to his preoccupation with the ongoing session of the Parliament, Instead, National Advisory Council member NC Saxena graced the occasion.
AICC secretary and in charge of Bihar affairs, K.l. Sharma and MlA from Gujarat Paresh Dhanani addressed participants at the workshop and informed them about salient features of the Food Security Bill.
State Congress President, Ashok Choudhary, AICC Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Khan, senior Congress leaders including Umakant Singh, Premchandra Mishra, Madhurendra Kumar Singh, Brajesh Pandey, Ajay Kumar Singh, Nagendra Kumar Vikal, Vinod Sharma, Presidents of District Congress and Block Congress also participated in the workshop.
Addressing the workshop, Saxena said that implementation of Food Security Bill will prove very beneficial for Bihar, suffering from large scale poverty, hunger and malnourishment. He said that the bill should not be opposed by any political party for the benefit of poor States like Bihar.