LATUR: President Ram Nath Kovind has notified the organisers of the 95th All India Marathi Literary Meet, which is taking place in Udgir, Maharashtra's Latur, that he will be unable to attend the event's closing ceremony on April 24, according to one of the organisers.

The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, a three-day literary festival, begins today.

President Ram Nath Kovind's visit to the Marathi Literary Meet on April 24 has been cancelled, according to his private secretary P Praveen Siddharth, who notified the literary meet's executive president, Baswaraj Patil Naglakar, by letter on Thursday.

The president will be unable to attend the meeting owing to "unavoidable circumstances and engagements in Delhi," read the letter, but he has agreed to send a recorded message. Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, is expected to open the literary festival. Former Union home minister Shivraj Patil Chakurkar, state Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh, state Marathi Language Minister Subhash Desai, president of the literary meet Bharat Sasane, minister Ashok Chavan, and music composer Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar will all be in attendance. Damodar Mauzo, a Konkani writer, will be the special guest of honour for the inauguration. On April 24, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will attend the closing ceremony.

On Friday, as part of the literary meet, a 'Grand Dindi,' or book procession, will be held in Udgir. The literary meet's location is dedicated to the late great vocalist Lata Mangeshkar.

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