New York/ New Delhi:
India was on Wednesday making last-ditch attempts to stop Thursday's auction of Mahatma Gandhi's personal items in New York and is even seeking the US State Department's intervention, as it prepared to negotiate with the US-based owner of the memorabilia to settle the issue.
Personal belongings of Gandhi - his metal-rimmed glasses, a pocket watch, a pair of sandals and a plate and bowl - are expected to go under the hammer at the auction house Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.
Top diplomats at the Indian Consulate held a high-level meeting with representatives of Antiquorum Auctioneers here in yet another bid to stall the controversial sale.
",We have asked our embassy in Washington and Consulate General of India in New York to do everything that is required through the bidding process or otherwise to acquire the Father of the Nation's personal assets for the country,", Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said in New Delhi.
James Otis, the US-based owner of the prized items, said in Los Angeles he is travelling to New York to meet Indian government officials to try to settle the issue.
He said that he hopes the Indian government is ",willing to offer something very generous to India's poorest in exchange for the donation of the items to the government.",
With the planned auction sparking an outrage in India, leading Indian American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has said he along with some of his friends of Indian-origin, will bid for the prized items to take its possession and return it home.
Personal belongings of Gandhi - his metal-rimmed glasses, a pocket watch, a pair of sandals and a plate and bowl - are expected to go under the hammer at the auction house Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.
Top diplomats at the Indian Consulate held a high-level meeting with representatives of Antiquorum Auctioneers here in yet another bid to stall the controversial sale.
",We have asked our embassy in Washington and Consulate General of India in New York to do everything that is required through the bidding process or otherwise to acquire the Father of the Nation's personal assets for the country,", Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said in New Delhi.
James Otis, the US-based owner of the prized items, said in Los Angeles he is travelling to New York to meet Indian government officials to try to settle the issue.
He said that he hopes the Indian government is ",willing to offer something very generous to India's poorest in exchange for the donation of the items to the government.",
With the planned auction sparking an outrage in India, leading Indian American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has said he along with some of his friends of Indian-origin, will bid for the prized items to take its possession and return it home.
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