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No rift in party, says Kejriwal
No
witch-hunting. Cong tells AAP
Nitish slams Congress for putting spl status issue on ‘back burner’
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SIMI, IM ‘operative’ held in Raipur
BJP celebrates Vajpayee’s birthday
Amitabh, Raj share stage; SP upset
Modi govt’s snooping on woman
extended to Karnataka: Website
Downstream impact study a must: Assam House panel
Ordnance factories fail to provide clothes to troops
Navi Mumbai airport gets crucial govt nod
Bihar panchayat bans cell phones for unwed girls
BSF, Pakistan Rangers discuss ways to combat smuggling
Soon, online PF transfer for pvt trusts’ workers
More teeth to CBI
Gujarat riots: Order on Jafri's plea today
Costly N-power puts DEA in a fix
Bihar panchayat bans cell phones for unwed girls
Maoists blow up office building in Odisha
Protect Ganga: PIL in HC
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No rift in party, says Kejriwal
New Delhi, December 25 "Binny came to me last evening. He told me he does not want a ministerial berth and that he was here for a mission. Binny said he has conveyed to the media that he was not upset," said Kejriwal. Binny, on his part, stated that he was not angry and that there was no rift in the party. "There is no rift between me and the party. There is nothing that I was angry about after being denied a post in the ministry," Binny said. AAP leader Yogendra Yadav also denied any rift within the party and stressed that party MLA Vinod Kumar Binny was not greedy of any post and added that the MLA from Laxmi Nagar had stood by the party when there was no one by their side. “Unfortunate that such an image about him (Vinod Kumar Binny) was formed that he is greedy for a post,” Yadav said.— Agencies
No witch-hunting. Cong tells AAP New Delhi, December 25 "We will definitely raise our voices if any party tries to settle its political vendetta and does something," Delhi Congress chief, Arvinder Singh Lovely, told reporters here. Referring to AAP's stand against corruption, he said it was the duty of every Chief Minister to fight corruption. "It is the duty of the CM and everybody concerned to fight corruption. When they take oath, they also take an oath to fight corruption. It does not necessarily have to be mentioned in election manifestos," he said. The Delhi Congress chief said there was no change in the Congress stand of backing AAP for government formation. — PTI
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Nitish slams Congress for putting spl status issue on ‘back burner’
Patna, December 25 “The Congress has put the issue of special category status for Bihar on the back burner under the influence of its natural ally. We will certainly raise the issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” Kumar told mediapersons at the airport on landing from New Delhi, in an apparent reference to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Amid reports of strain in the relationship between the RJD and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in the process of pre-poll tie-up, Kumar said, “Though there have not been any talks with the Ramvilas Paswan party for partnership, but politics is a game of possibilities.” The Centre had constituted a committee under Raghuram Rajan, now RBI Governor, to decide the criteria for defining backwardness on economic considerations and it had given a report placing Bihar among the least developed states’ category. “The matter for grant of special category status was tipped to come up in the meeting of the Finance Secretary, which has been now put on hold, indicating a change of mind of the Congress due to political considerations,” Kumar said. He made it clear that JD (U) did not have any “political issue” with the Congress and their interactions recently were on the subject of granting the special category status to Bihar. — PTI
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SIMI, IM ‘operative’ held in Raipur
Raipur, December 25 Twenty-two-year-old Dheeraj Sao, who ran a roadside eatery in Transport Nagar area, was nabbed by a team of the Chhattisgarh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) based on specific inputs about his alleged links with terror modules, Inspector General of Police, Raipur Range, GP Singh said at a press conference here this evening. Sao was picked up for interrogation and later arrested, he said. According to the officer, Sao, a native of Jamui district of Bihar, allegedly acted as a mediator to send cash to IM and SIMI terrorists, which he admitted during interrogation. — PTI
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BJP celebrates Vajpayee’s birthday New Delhi, December 25 The party has been accused of ignoring Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the posters for the recent Assembly elections. But today, BJP president Rajnath Singh attended a function at the party headquarters wishing the leader a speedy recovery. The BJP launched a signature campaign wishing the ailing leader long life and good health while the BJP Yuva Morcha chief Anurag Thakur initiated literacy mission “Chalo School Chalen” by distributing study kits to underprivileged children. Others present on the occasion included party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and general secretary JP Nadda along with spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain and secretary Anil Jain. Noting that Vajpayee as Prime Minister had launched the 'Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan', one of the largest literacy programmes in the world with an emphasis on the need for compulsory primary education, Thakur said, “It is sad to note that the world's largest democracy still has the maximum illiterate population.” The party’s government in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan too held special functions on the occasion.
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Amitabh, Raj share stage; SP upset
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi said Bachchan had hurt the sentiments of North Indians by appearing with Thackeray. “Bachchan has insulted millions of North Indians by sharing the stage with Raj Thackeray,” Abu Azmi told mediapersons on Tuesday evening. Azmi wondered if Thackeray had made up only with Bachchan or the entire North Indian community. “Bachchan should have asked Thackeray to let go of the hatred he showed towards the North Indians in the past,” Azmi said. Bachchan, who was targeted by Thackeray shortly after the latter formed the MNS five years ago, said at the function that they should put the past behind and look ahead. The Congress welcomed the move. “Finally, Thackeray has realised his mistake,” Maharashtra Congress Pradesh Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.
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Modi govt’s snooping on woman extended to Karnataka: Website
New Delhi, December 25 The portal, gulail.com, has released a set of fresh 39 tapes, which contained purported conversation between two senior Gujarat police officials, G L Singhal and A K Sharma, about the spying on the woman. The website, which along with another portal cobrapost.com had first exposed the matter, said the Gujarat Police had in 2009 contacted its Karnataka counterpart during the Chief Ministership of B S Yedyurrapa for intercepting the telephone of the particular woman in Bangalore where she lived. The Karnataka Government, however, turned down the request, saying due procedures were not followed and that "the order had been signed by a junior officer who was not even authorised to issue phone-tapping instructions". According to the claims by the websites, the snooping was being undertaken at the behest of 'saheb', an apparent reference to Modi. In some of the tapes, the then state Home Minister and Modi's close aide Amit Shah is purportedly heard referring to 'saheb' repeatedly. "The Gujarat Police not only circumvented the process for tapping of phones, some junior officers of the state home department directly ordered the telecom companies to carry out illegal surveillance," the website has claimed. It said the move was in clear violation of Indian Telegraph Rule 419 (A) and the Gujarat Government’s own notification (dated 29th March 1997), which clearly state that a phone can be tapped only with the written authorisation of the Union Home Secretary or state Home Secretary. The new tapes contradict the claims made by Gujarat government that the woman was merely being “provided security” during her visits to Gujarat at the request of her father. The new tapes, the website claimed, establish the woman's surveillance which involved massive use of state machinery and was mounted not to protect her as claimed by the state government but to "stalk her and pry into her private life". "Just like in the first batch of tapes, here too all the persons involved in this illegal operation, from Singhal to Sharma to Amit Shah, were passing on the information gathered to a superior authority who is repeatedly referred to as the ‘saheb’," it said. When this "illegal surveillance" was launched, the woman was living in Bangalore and visited her friends and family in Gujarat every now and then. "Her Bangalore numbers, it emerges from the tapes, were intercepted by the Gujarat police to get details about her personal life in the city," it said. — PTI
39 tapes released
* The portal, gulail.com, has released a set of fresh 39 tapes, which contained purported conversation between two senior Gujarat police officials, GL Singhal and AK Sharma, about the spying on the woman *
The website, which along with another portal cobrapost.com had first exposed the matter, said the Gujarat Police had in 2009 contacted its Karnataka counterpart during the chief ministership of BS Yedyurrapa for intercepting the telephone of the particular woman in Bangalore where she lived
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Chandigarh’s tryst with the MiG-21 As the MiG-21 FL, the IAF’s first supersonic fighter made its last sortie earlier this month after having ruled the skies over the subcontinent serving the IAF for half a century, not many would now that the air force’s tryst with the MiG-21 began at Chandigarh.
As the MiG-21s began arriving in India in 1963, No.28 Squadron, the “First Supersonics” was raised at Chandigarh, with former Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh as its first Commanding Officer. A little later, No.45 Squadron, “Flying Daggers”, was moved to Chandigarh and re-equipped with the MiG-21s, becoming the second outfit to operate the IAF’s newest warbird. While 28 Squadron moved out elsewhere to carry out its operational tasks, Air Marshal RS Bedi (retd), who served with 45 Squadron, recalled that besides their operational role, the Flying Daggers were deeply engaged in training and converting pilots and technical crew on the MiG-21 who were selected for posting to other MiG-21 squadrons. While the First Supersonics now operate the MiG-29, the Flying Daggers reequipped with the MiG-21, albeit its more advanced “Bis” version. It was this squadron, then operating out of Naliya in Gujarat, that had claimed the MiG-21’s last operational kill, when a Pakistani Atlantique reccee aircraft was shot down over the Rann of Kutch in 1999. At present there are no fighter aircraft based in Chandigarh, with the last MiG-21 Squadron to be based here, No.21 Squadron, “Ankush”, having moved out a decade ago. Debit card trouble for woman officer A woman army officer is in the dock for allegedly making purchases by using the debit card of another woman officer without the latter’s knowledge. The army has ordered that the woman officer, a captain posted in the Northern Command, be tried by a summary general court martial (SGCM). She faces charges under Section 52 of the Army Act which deals with offences relating to property belonging to the government or persons subject to the Act. According to sources, the officer had made purchases from an army run shop and had handed over a debit card for payment. Later it was revealed that a sum of Rs 44,000 had been debited from the account of the other officer, where as no amount for the said purchases had been debited from her own account. The officer from whose account the money was debited had made complaint to the army authorities, following which a court of inquiry was ordered. Sources said that the captain had contended that she had made purchases only worth Rs 28,000 by handing over her own debit card. She had denied having used another officer’s card, which could not be found when the other officer, also a captain and residing in the same place, had searched for it following the discrepancy in payments. Sources add that the signed receipts of the debit card handed over to the clerk by the card holder and some portions of the CCTV footage from the shop were not produced during the initial investigations conducted by the Army. Shock over conviction of royal scion Veteran officers have expressed shock over the conviction of Brig Sukhjit Singh of the Scinde Horse and erstwhile Maharaja of Kapurthala by a local court in Uttarakhand for allegedly trying to sell of some land in the state that is held in a Trust by the regiment. Retired officers who had known Brig Sukhjit Singh from their service days remember him to be a man of unimpeachable integrity and character who enjoyed the highest respect in military circles as well as the civilian society. According to former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Harwant Singh, also an armoured corps officer, Brig Sukhjit Singh had no personal interest in the case. Officers recalled that the Brigadier (then a Lt Col), who was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, had a tiff with the then defence minister over the said land that was being eyed by some politically influential people in the Army. Brig Sukhjit Singh, who was one of the Trustees, refused to yield under pressure from the defence minister. He had stood his ground to protect the interests of the regiment and had preferred to resign his commission subsequently. From guns to kebabs After the Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had met his counterpart, Maj Gen Amir Riaz at the Pakistani side of the Wagah-Attari land crossing between the two countries, the Pakistani side rolled out lunch that comprised the best of the fabled non-vegetarian Lahore cuisine. The Indian team of five members that returned back after the three-hour meeting admitted ‘unhonae bahut khatirdari ki’ (They hosted us very well). After the two sides had discussed irksome issues along the Line of Control, it was time for lunch, the menu of which included chicken qorma, two types of mutton dishes, frilled fish, chicken tikka, seekh kebab, Lahori chhole, paneer pasanda, mixed vegetables, dal tadka, zarda pulao and roti topped with gajar ka halwa as sweet dish. After the lunch, as the Maj Gen Riaz saw off Lt Gen Bhatia at the Zero Line, jawans on either side of the divide were busy capturing the moment on cameras. (Vijay Mohan and Ajay Banerjee)
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Downstream impact study a must: Assam House panel
Bijay Sankar Bora Tribune News Service
Guwahati, December 25 The committee was constituted in the wake of mass rising in Assam against construction of mega dams in upstream of rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, especially the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-electricity project that is being constructed by the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary. The house committee is of the opinion that no dam should be allowed to be constructed in the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh without proper comprehensive and scientific downstream impact assessment. It also said, “The state governments concerned should also carry out comprehensive downstream studies through their own agencies and consult experts before issuing no objection certificates (NOCs) for setting up of hydroelectric projects. If necessary, the existing procedures/laws should be amended.” It also called for steps by the state government to take up the recommendations made by the expert group of the state without delay. The expert group of the state, comprising experts from Guwahati IIT, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University, had submitted a report in June 2010.
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Ordnance factories fail to provide clothes to troops
Chandigarh, December 25 Further, the ordnance factories also failed to tap the potential needs of the paramilitary forces, catering to only 2.62 per cent of their requirements. There are 41 ordnance factories spread across the country and these are divided into five groups, dealing with ammunition, explosives, weapons vehicles, materials, components, armoured vehicle, clothes, general stores, etc. There are five factories in the general stores and clothing (GS&C) group. Pointing out that “endemic slippages” in issue of GS&C items despite outsourcing of jobs and unilateral reduction of targets in many cases, caused serious concern to the Army, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has observed in its latest report released a few days ago that the shortfalls in production and issue of GS&C items to the Army ranged between 21 and The report observed that the Army’s Central Ordnance Depot expressed serious concern about critical deficiency in 13 items due to non-supply by the GS&C group, forcing the Ordnance Factory Board to issue a non-objection certificate to the Director General Ordnance Services at Army Headquarters to procure the
said items directly from the market. CAG has attributed the non-supply of items and slippage in production mainly to delayed finalisation of firm targets, acceptance of targets beyond the factories’ capacity, slippages in procurement of stores and low utilisation of capacity. Observing that even after outsourcing by the ordnance factories, the targets were not met and there were numerous slippages in the production and issues of GS&C items, CAG revealed irregularities and lapses in outsourcing of jobs on the grounds of capacity constraints with reference to inflated targets, unjustified outsourcing despite availability of sufficient inhouse capacity and outsourcing without adherence to quality and security aspects.
Huge losses * With ordnance factories not meeting the requirements, the armed forces had to import or purchase clothing and general stores items worth Rs 2,000 crore from the open market in the last four years *
These units have also failed to tap the potential needs of the paramilitary forces, catering to only 2.62 per cent of their requirement *
There are 41 ordnance factories spread across the country and these are divided into five groups, dealing with ammunition, explosives, weapons vehicles, materials, components, armoured vehicle, clothes and general stores
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Navi Mumbai airport gets crucial govt nod
Mumbai, December 25 “The Centre has given its nod for the RFQ,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told mediapersons here recently. Elaborating on the development, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) vice-chairman and managing director Sanjay Bhatia said the decision to float RFQ was taken during a recent steering committee meeting of the Civil Aviation Ministry in Delhi. “The process of RFQ will be done in the next 15 days. We will also see whether the company that will be selected as part of the PPP project has any past experience for airport contract experience, operations and quality,” he said. After the RFQ process is completed, the government will go ahead with the request for proposal (RFP), wherein it will be seen as to how much revenue the company is ready to share under the public-private-partnership (PPP) project, the senior official said. He also claimed that the proposed international airport would be the biggest in the country, having a capacity of 60 million passengers per annum. “The airport will be completed in four phases. The first phase is expected to be completed by December 2017. It will also be the seventh biggest international airport in the world,” Bhatia said. PTI
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Bihar panchayat bans cell phones for unwed girls
Patna, December 25 The panchayat also threatened to impose heavy fine on the girls’ families if they violated the diktat, said Zakir Ansari, husband of the village council head. “The decision was taken with the approval of hundreds of villagers,” said Ansari, who works as the de facto head. He added, “All families have been told to ensure that the decision is not violated.” However, Bihar Panchayati Raj Minister Bhim Singh said a panchayat had no right to impose the ban on the use of mobile phones by girls or prevent them from keeping mobile phones. “If girls or any one from the village lodges a complaint in this connection, the government will initiate action against the decision taken by the panchayat,” Singh said. This is not the first such case in Bihar. Earlier, a village council in Aurangabad district banned the use of cell phones by school students and told girl students not to wear “provocative” dresses. — IANS
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BSF, Pakistan Rangers discuss ways to combat smuggling
Lahore, December 25 The issues figured during the second round of talks at Wagah. A 13-member BSF delegation led by Director General Subhash Joshi crossed over to Pakistan via Wagah yesterday for the talks, which will continue till December 28. “Today, the two sides discussed airspace violations by helicopters and spy planes, elimination of illegal border crossing and smuggling in detail,” a Pakistan Rangers spokesman said after the talks. Issues like inadvertent border crossing by civilians, killing of people at the border and illegal defence-specific constructions were also discussed, he added. Maj General Khan Tahir Javed Khan is leading the Pakistanis at the talks. — PTI
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Soon, online PF transfer for pvt trusts’ workers
New Delhi, December 25 There are about 2,750 private Provident Fund (PF) trusts which manage the account of their workers. The information services wing of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is working on such mechanism to enable transfer of PF accounts from a private PF trust to an unexempted firm and vice-versa. The facility could be launched in four to six weeks. This was revealed by the head of the information services wing to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) K K Jalan in a recent meeting of zonal commissioners earlier this month. "CPFC also directed that mechanism be worked out to extend online transfer claim portal (OTCP) to handle transfer of claims from un-exempt to exempt establishments (PF trust) and vice versa. Addintional Central Commissioner (Information Services) informed CPFC that Information Services Division is working on the same and it shall be launched within 4 to 6 weeks," states minutes of the meeting of zonal commissioners. The online transfer of PF claims facility has been made available after the EPFO launched its online transfer claim portal (OTCP) on October 2, this year. Currently, this facility is available to workers of firms which do not have their PF trusts and manage their employees' accounts with their respective regional fund commissioners. The facility of online transfer of provident fund accounts is aimed at reducing the work load of the body substantially as over 13 lakh applicants files such claims every year. During 2012-13, the EPFO settled 107.62 lakh claims, 88 per cent of which were processed within 30 days, as prescribed by the body's citizen charter. The EPFO expects 1.2 crore claims in 2013-14, including around 13 lakh PF transfer claims, largely from tech-savvy companies from sectors like IT. — PTI
2,750 PF trusts
* There are about 2,750 private Provident Fund (PF) trusts which
manage the account of their workers * The information services wing of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is working on such mechanism to enable transfer of PF accounts from a private PF trust to an unexempted firm and vice-versa. The facility could be launched in four to six weeks
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More teeth to CBI
New Delhi, December 25 CBI sources said that the Directorate of Prosecution has been now placed under the stewardship of the agency director, who will not only see to the promotions and postings but also write the annual confidential reports, as done earlier by the Law Ministry. The Directorate of Prosecution in the CBI is responsible for conducting and supervising cases pending trial, appeal and revision in courts. It supervises and monitors the conduct of prosecution in courts and gives advice to CBI officers on all legal matters of general or specific import vis-a-vis issues arising during investigation or trial. The Director of Prosecution was the chief functionary of the Prosecution Wing of CBI and was vested with powers of direction and control over prosecuting officers. Those powers have now passed to the CBI Director. In a number of cases, the probe by the agency was overturned by the Directorate of Prosecution; but the new arrangement gives to the CBI Director the power to a final view on investigations and, subsequently, the chargesheets. The Lokpal Bill, which has been passed by both Houses of Parliament, also provides for the DoP headed by the Director of Prosecution to be placed under the CBI director. PTI
New changes * CBI sources said the Directorate of Prosecution has been now placed under the stewardship of the agency director, who will not only see to the promotions and postings but also write the annual confidential reports, as done earlier by the Law Ministry *
The Directorate of Prosecution in the CBI is responsible for conducting and supervising cases pending trial, appeal and revision in courts *
It supervises and monitors the conduct of prosecution in courts and gives advice to CBI officers on all legal matters of general or specific import vis-a-vis issues arising during investigation or trial
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Gujarat riots: Order on Jafri's plea today
Ahmedabad, Dec 25 Magistrate BJ Ganatra had earlier said he would deliver the order on October 28, but it was deferred to December 2, and then to December 26. Arguments got over in September 2013. Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre here during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, contends that Modi and others should be tried for their role in the conspiracy which facilitated the state-wide violence. — PTI
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Costly N-power puts DEA in a fix
New Delhi, December 25 On one hand, it is involved in hard negotiations with the companies and on the other hand, sources said, if the cost per unit turns out to be too expensive, then it may not even pursue the project with collaborators. The estimated cost by the DAE for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) in Maharashtra is around Rs 9 per unit while the cost for Mithi Virdhi Nuclear Power Project is around Rs 12 per unit. Currently, the DAE is in negotiations with French company Areva to build six EPR reactors of 1650 MW each at Jaitapur. Sources pointed out that initial estimates state the cost of the project to be around Rs 27-30 crore per megawatt and the cost per unit to be around Rs 9 per unit in 2021. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai last month, RK Sinha, DAE secretary, had said a competitive per unit tariff of Rs 6.50 has been estimated in the year of completion of Jaitapur project in 2020-21. In the case of Mithi Virdhi project where American company Westinghouse Electric is providing AP-1000 reactors, the cost per megawatt is coming to around Rs 40 crores while the cost per unit is around Rs 12. Although this project is yet to reach the advanced negotiations stage, the DAE has already signed an early works agreement with Westinghouse Electric. The DAE is skeptical about the proposal due to its high cost. It states that the cost per unit from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) unit 1 and 2 is around Rs 3.50 to Rs 4 per unit. "If we take inflation into consideration, even then the cost is very high. We are also answerable to people. Plus, there is a lot of opposition to nuclear projects where we have foreign collaborators. —PTI
Tricky situation
* The cost of electricity generation by nuclear power plants, to be set up with the help of French and American companies, is turning out to be on the higher side *
On one hand, it is involved in hard negotiations with the companies and on the other hand, sources said, if the cost per unit turns out to be too expensive, then it may not even pursue the project with collaborators
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Bihar panchayat bans cell phones for unwed girls
Patna, December 25 The panchayat also threatened to impose heavy fine on the girls’ families if they violated the diktat, said Zakir Ansari, husband of the village council head. “The decision was taken with the approval of hundreds of villagers,” said Ansari, who works as the de facto head. He added, “All families have been told to ensure that the decision is not violated.” However, Bihar Panchayati Raj Minister Bhim Singh said a panchayat had no right to impose the ban on the use of mobile phones by girls or prevent them from keeping mobile phones. “If girls or any one from the village lodges a complaint in this connection, the government will initiate action against the decision taken by the panchayat,” Singh said. This is not the first such case in Bihar. Earlier, a village council in Aurangabad district banned the use of cell phones by school students and told girl students not to wear “provocative” dresses. — IANS
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Maoists blow up office building in Odisha
Malkangiri (Odisha), December 25 The red rebels set the building on fire before triggering a powerful blast, causing extensive damage to the structure, he said, adding that no one was harmed in the attack. Four of the five rooms in the building with asbestos roof were completely destroyed in the blast which damaged documents and important records, gram panchayat officer Basant Behera said. The SP said the attack was a desperate attempt by the Maoists to counter the stepped up anti-naxal operations mounted by the security forces in the region. A poster found from the site stated that the attack was in protest against an encounter with security forces in September this year in which around 13 Maoists were killed, the police said. — PTI
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AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who will take oath as Delhi's seventh Chief Minister on Saturday, denied any rift within the party on the issue of Cabinet berths.
A day after Laxmi Nagar MLA Binny, a ministerial aspirant, walked out of a meeting at Kejriwal's house after coming to know that he was not among the probable
ministers
The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) today decided to celebrate the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, who turned 89 today, and marking it as an event by launching initiatives.
The party has been accused of ignoring Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the posters for the recent Assembly elections. But today, BJP president Rajnath Singh attended a function at the party headquarters wishing the leader a speedy recovery.
Arvind Kejriwal
Manish Sisodia
Somnath Bharti
Satyendra Kumar Jain
Rakhi Birla
Saurabh Bhardwaj
Girish Soni
Mumbai, December 25