 "PM Narendra Modi was welcomed by Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the party headquarters in New Delhi Photo: PTI")
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday passed a resolution, which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh moved, congratulating and thanking Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on behalf of the entire country on making the G20 summit a success.
Sources pointed out it was also 10 years to the day when Singh, then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, announced Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate at a press conference in the national capital on September 13, 2013. This was after the meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary board, which senior leader L K Advani had skipped and later penned a note recording his “anguish” and “disappointment” at Singh’s “style of functioning”.
The Union Cabinet unanimously passed Singh’s resolution on Wednesday. Briefing the media after the meeting, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the PM had emerged as a “man of global alliances”, referring to the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance after earlier successes related to International Solar Alliance and Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment). “The successful hosting of the G20 summit is a symbol of PM’s efficient leadership and strong will, and it is being talked about in the entire world,” he said.
Hundreds of BJP workers showered flower petals on the PM in the evening at the party’s national headquarters. They chanted his name and accorded him a spirited welcome to mark India successfully hosting the G20 summit. Modi was at the BJP headquarters to attend a meeting of its central election committee to pick candidates for the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Assembly elections. On Thursday, the PM will visit MP and Chhattisgarh, both poll-bound, to launch several projects in the two states.
His office said in a statement he would lay the foundation stones of projects, worth over Rs 50,700 crore, in MP at an event in Bina. The projects include a petrochemicals complex at the Bina refinery and 10 new industrial projects across the state. Later, he will travel to neighbouring Chhattisgarh to dedicate important rail sector projects worth around Rs 6,350 crore. A Delhi BJP leader will hold an “all-religion Tiranga Yatra to celebrate the G20 success under the PM’s leadership” from Delhi’s Jama Masjid to Delhi Gate.
His office said in a statement he would lay the foundation stones of projects, worth over Rs 50,700 crore, in MP at an event in Bina. The projects include a petrochemicals complex at the Bina refinery and 10 new industrial projects across the state. Later, he will travel to neighbouring Chhattisgarh to dedicate important rail sector projects worth around Rs 6,350 crore. A Delhi BJP leader will hold an “all-religion Tiranga Yatra to celebrate the G20 success under the PM’s leadership” from Delhi’s Jama Masjid to Delhi Gate.
More such events are planned for the PM’s 73rd birthday on September 17.
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President Droupadi Murmu launched the “Ayushman Bhavah” campaign on Wednesday, which aims to provide saturation coverage of health care service in every village and town in the country. The campaign will be implemented during the “Seva Pakhwada”, starting from the PM’s birthday and continuing till October 2, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
The PM’s birthday will see the government roll out the Vishwakarma Scheme. The BJP OBC (Other Backward Classes) cell chief, K Laxman, said the scheme would benefit three million families, and 70 ministers would address events across 70 places in the country to explain the scheme.
The government has allocated Rs 13,000 crore for the scheme to provide loans at nominal interest to artisans and craftspeople.
The BJP central election commission met last month and named candidates for 39 seats for the polls in MP and 21 for Chhattisgarh. These were for the seats where the BJP does not have incumbent MLAs. In a departure from practice, the BJP has, this time, begun naming its Assembly poll candidates long before the dates for the elections have been announced. Sources said the party could ask some of its sitting MPs in the poll-bound states to contest Assembly elections.
Party leaders also spoke of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praise for the PM’s “Make in India” initiative. Two hours before the INDIA alliance parties got together in the afternoon to discuss seat sharing, the BJP’s Sambit Patra slammed the INDIA bloc meeting as a get-together of “anti-Hindu coordination committee”.
Patra said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had long been behind the “conspiracy to target Hinduism”.
