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Vajpayee turns 89
Vajpayee Turns 89, Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday turned 89. Seeking to invoke the Vajpayee magic.
BJP to project Atal model, not Modi’s
- Top leaders call on him to extend birthday greetings
- Reiterate demand that he be awarded Bharat Ratna
- PM meets him for 20 minutes
- TDP chief Naidu was among those who greeted him
New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday turned 89. Seeking to invoke the Vajpayee magic, the BJP has decided to project the Vajpayee model of good governance, instead of focusing on the Gujarat model of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The BJP seemed to realise that it seems to have an element of scare for minorities.
BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar pointed out that from 1998-2004, the Vajpayee government presented the model of good governance. The party, he said, had decided to pitch for the Vajpayee model of good governance. In a bid to bring the focus back on Vajpayee, BJP president Rajnath Singh initiated a signature campaign to wish the former Prime Minister on his birthday. Rajnath Singh, leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar, besides Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel, Delhi BJP chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan and former Delhi BJP president Vijendra Gupta were among the other prominent leaders, who met Vajpayee, whose birthday falls on Christmas day.
Narendra Modi drove down to Vajpayee’s residence to wish him on the occasion. Besides Modi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also greeted Vajpayee.
Significantly, TDP suremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who is angling for an alliance with the BJP, was also among the prominent leaders to greet Vajpayee on his birthday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to greet Vajpayee on his birthday. The Prime Minister reached Vajpayee's 6-A, Krishna Menon Marg residence at around12.30 pm and remained with the BJP veteran for nearly 20 minutes.
Vajpayye has been ailing for some time now and confined to his official residence. Several people were seen waiting since morning to greet Vajpayee on his birthday. Most of them had come from Gwalior where he was born, while some had come from Lucknow, a constituency he represented in the Lok Sabha. Vajpayee served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns. He is a gifted orator and also a poet. Starting his political career with the RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, Vajpayee went on to become the Prime Minister in 1996, then in 1998 and again in 1999 and remained in office till 2004. Born into an upper-caste family on December 25, 1924, Vajpayee was elected to Parliament for the first time in 1957.
