BJP forms 17 groups for LS polls, Rajnath to head manifesto committee
New Delhi, Jan 6: The BJP Sunday appointed senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley as the head of 20-member 'sankalp patra' (manifesto) committee and publicity wing respectively for the Lok Sabha polls as its president Amit Shah formed 17 groups in preparation for the elections.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are the other members of the committee tasked with preparing the party's manifesto, a statement said.
Jaitley will also be a member of this committee.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari will head a committee which will reach out to social and volunteer organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls, it added.
Prasad will head the party's media group while Union minister Prakash Javadekar will lead the wing which will organise meetings of intellectuals.
The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May with the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a re-election.
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2001 Parliament attack anniversary: Vice Prez, PM Modi, MPs pay tributes to fallen heroes
New Delhi (PTI): Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Saturday led Parliamentarians in paying floral tributes to those who died fending off terrorists who attacked the Parliament House in 2001.
On the 24th anniversary of the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Radhakrishnan, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chair, were among the first to offer tributes.
A brief function is held outside the now old Parliament building (Samvidhan Sadan) every December 13 to mark the day.
CISF personnel presented a salute or "samman guard" at the venue, after which a moment of silence was observed to mark the anniversary. Till 2023, the CRPF used to offer 'salami shastra' (present arms).
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a senior party leader, were also present at the event. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal also lined up to offer flower petals at the photographs of the personnel who went down foiling the attack.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is in Latur to attend the funeral of former speaker of the Lower House of Parliament and ex-Union minister Shivraj Patil.
The attack was carried out by five armed terrorists, but personnel from the now former Parliament Security Service, CRPF and Delhi Police foiled the attack, with no terrorist being able to enter the building.
Six Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Service personnel, a gardener and a TV video journalist were killed in the attack. All five terrorists were gunned down in the forecourt of the then Parliament building.
