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January 11, 1998

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A tale of two venues

The government school ground in Sriperumbudur, from where Sonia Gandhi launched her maiden poll campaign, was the venue originally suggested by the police when Rajiv Gandhi came to this temple town in Tamil Nadu to address an election rally on the fateful night of May 21, 1991.

The ground, which is one furlong away from the site where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, was not acceptable to the Congress organisers who thought it was not big enough to accomodate the vast crowd that was expected to attend the rally, the police had then said.

Much against the police warnings, the organisers selected a barren land surrounded by palm trees off the Sriperumbudur by-pass road, the then local inspector of police had said.

With entry to the venue made easy from all points, fool-proof security became impossible and Rajiv Gandhi fell victim to a human-bomb, minutes after his arrival.

Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by her daughter Priyanka, paid floral tributes to her husband at his memorial before driving to the school ground.

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