New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders greeted L K Advani, considered the architect of the party's rise as a major national force in the 90s, on his birthday on Tuesday.
Advani, the BJP's longest serving president, turned 95 on Tuesday. Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Advani's residence here to greet him.
Home Minister Amit Shah said Advani, with his relentless efforts, strengthened the party organisation across the country and also made invaluable contribution to the country's development while being part of the government.
Shah wished him good health and a long life.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari called Advani a source of inspiration.
Singh said Advani has made a very important contribution to the country, society and the party and is counted among the country's tallest personalities.
Paying rich tributes to the veteran who groomed a generation of young leaders, BJP president J P Nadda described him as a leading light of Indian politics and a guide to party leaders. His life dedicated to the nation and the party is a source of inspiration to them, he said.
Born in 1927 in Karachi, now part of Pakistan, Advani joined the RSS at a young age and later worked for Jana Sangh where he made a mark with his organisational abilities.
He was a founding member of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980 and was its face along with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for several decades.
A keen strategist, Advani's 'Rath Yatra' in 1990 in support of building the Ram temple in Ayodhya at a site believed to be the birth place of Lord Ram is seen as an epochal turn in national politics, marking the unstoppable rise of the party to power.
While Vajpayee, the popular face of the party who enjoyed acceptability beyond its support base, became prime minister, Advani was home minister. He became deputy prime minister later.
#WATCH | Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the residence of veteran BJP leader LK Advani to greet him on his birthday.
— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2022
(Source: DD) pic.twitter.com/CXGstXfcoU
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Dispur: In the backdrop of the BJP-led NDA’s sweeping win in the Assam elections on Monday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit out at the Congress party, picking senior leader of the rival party Pawan Khera who had alleged that Sarma’s wife had multiple passports.
Speaking to BJP activists and reporters after the poll results were announced, the CM opined that Khera should no longer hold the position of spokesperson in the Congress, adding, “The people of Assam have Pawan Khera eat ‘pera’.”
Sarma, who called the people’s mandate in the state both historic and emotional, said, “The state’s image had started changing since 2016, under the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Assam is now being considered a development-orientated state because of them.”
Commenting on the Congress leadership, the CM said that the people believed the BJP’s allegations during the campaign. “Congress leaders, however, faced rejection from their own communities,” he claimed and added that the BJP government would continue raising certain issues even after the elections.
