Vajpayee visited Udupi six times
Udupi, August 16: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who died after prolonged illness at AIIMS at New Delhi on Thursday, had visited Udupi, the temple town, six times in his lifetime.
When Vajpayee was the national president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (earlier name of BJP) in 1968, the Jan Sangh had come to power at New Delhi and Udupi city municipal councils with clear majority for the first time. When Udupi city municipal council came into existence, the Jan Sangh had come to power and when Dr VS Acharya was elected as the president, Vajpayee had called him over phone and congratulated him, M Somashekar Bhat who was elected as then Udupi city municipal council member, recalled.
When the Udupi city municipal council had banned carrying excreta on head for the first time in the country, Vajpayee had congratulated Dr Acharya in 1968. In the same year, Vajpayee had participated in a special programme of the city municipal council held in front of the Pejawar Mutt on Ratha Beedi, recalled another senior leader Gujjadi Prabhakar Nayak who became the city municipal council president later.
Somashekar Bhat recalled his stay with Vajpayee, LK Advani and other leaders in Bengaluru jail when Indira Gandhi jailed the opposition leaders during Emergency in 1975.
In the Lok Sabha elections held after withdrawing the Emergency in 1977, Vajpayee had visited Udupi to campaign in favour of former Supreme Court Judge Justice KS Hegde and he had also participated in that meeting, recollected Gujjadi.
Somashekar Bhat recalled that Vajpayee had visited Udupi in 1984 to campaign in favour of himself who contested for Assembly from BJP and Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty who contested for Lok Sabha elections and addressed the people in front of Victoria Jubilee Hall before the city municipal council. Though both of them were defeated in that election, they were able to retain the deposits and it was because of the speech and visit of Vajpayee, Bhat said.
In 1993, Vajpayee again visited Udupi. While returning from Shivamogga, he had visited Udupi and he was welcomed in front of the city municipal council and felicitated him. In 1998, Vajpayee visited Udupi for the fifth time. He had come to the city to campaign in favour of IM Jayaram Shetty who had contested for Lok Sabha election. Thousands of people thronged the Bhujanga Park where the rally was held to listen to his speech. In the same year, he had also visited Mangaluru to campaign in favour of Dhananjay Kumar.
As the last time, Vajpayee had come to Udupi in 2001 to inaugurate the newly constructed Rajangana by Pejawar seer during the fourth Paryaya of Pejawar seer at Krishna Mutt. On January 18, 2001, Vajpayee, along with Vishvesha Tirtha Swamiji, had darshan of Lord Sri Krishna and inaugurated the Rajangana in the evening. He was felicitated by the Pejawar Mutt then.
Vajpayee had many friends for in Udupi including Dr VS Acharya, Somashekar Bhat, Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty and others. Dr VS Acharya was recalling his friendship with Vajpayee and LK Advani.
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Rattled PCB moves PSL to UAE as tensions with India escalate
Lahore (PTI): The PCB on Friday decided to shift the remaining matches of its Pakistan Super League to the UAE because of the ongoing military confrontation with India which has left the event's foreign players anxious.
The PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) said early this morning that the last eight fixtures, which were previously scheduled in Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore, will now be staged in the UAE.
Schedule of matches, outlining the dates and venues, will be shared in due course, a statement said.
PCB Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi alleged that India had targeted the Rawalpindi cricket stadium in the most recent strike inside Pakistan to disrupt the PSL.
However, the Indian defence ministry has made it clear that only the air defence radars and systems were targeted on Thursday after Pakistan tried to hit 15 places in northern and western regions in India on Wednesday night.
"...in view of the extremely irresponsible and dangerous Indian act of targeting the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, which was manifestly done to disrupt the ongoing Pakistan Super League X, the PCB has decided to shift the remaining matches to UAE," Naqvi claimed.
The PCB chief said the shift to UAE was done so that domestic as well as foreign cricketers' concerns are suitably addressed.
"As a responsible organisation that has overcome adversities repeatedly and ensured that the game of cricket flourishes, it was important for us to ensure the mental well-being of all players participating in the PSL," he said.
Earlier on Thursday the PCB called off a scheduled match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings at the Rawalpindi stadium.
Reports in the British media stated that the English players competing in the league were considering leaving it due to security concerns.
