leaders cutting across party lines greeted former Prime Minister and BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who turned 89 on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to greet Vajpayee on his birthday.
Singh, who reached Vajpayee’s 6A Krishna Menon Marg residence around 12:30 pm, remained with the BJP veteran for nearly 20 minutes. Vajpayee’s deputy in the NDA Cabinet and senior BJP leader lK Advani also wished the former PM on the occasion.
Among others who met Vajpayee included BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Vasundhra Raje and Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
BJP president Rajnath Singh, leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda, former party chief Nitin Gadkari, party leaders Ananth Kumar, Harsh Vardhan and Vijendra Gupta were among the other prominent people who met the former PM.
The BJP celebrated Vajpayee’s birthday with much fanfare and launched several initiatives to mark the occasion. The party launched a signature campaign for Vajpayee’s long life and good health while the BJP youth wing unveiled a literacy initiative which saw study kits being distributed amongst under-privileged children.
Inaugurating the campaign at the party headquarters here, Rajnath Singh eulogised Vajpayee and wished the ailing former PM a speedy recovery. Party leaders also remembered Vajpayee’s leadership qualities and recounted the initiatives taken by him during the NDA regime.
The BJP’s youth wing - Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha - also launched a nationwide literacy campaign, ‘School Chalein Hum’, by distributing study kits. Kicking off the above drive, BJYM president Anurag Thakur presented sweets and learning kits to a number of under- privileged children in the slums of Tughlak camp and Noida.
As Prime Minister, Vajpayee had launched the ‘Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan’, which was the world’s biggest literacy programme with an emphasis on the need for compulsory primary education, Thakur said.