Published On : Thu, May 25th, 2017

Gadkari’s B’Day celebration to be a power-packed affair in Nagpur

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Nagpur: Come May 27 and Nagpur will sizzle with the cluster of politicians from corridors of power. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has organized grand celebrations to mark the 60th birthday of Nitin Gadkari, union transport minister and former national president of the party, on Saturday. The main function will be held at Kasturchand Park. BJP expects the attendance of more than 50,000 people at the function.

Top politicians, including BJP’s national president Amit Shah, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, former union minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit, former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde of Congress, union minister Ramdas Athawale of RPI, state industries minister Subhash Desai of Shiv Sena and former state revenue minister Narayan Rane of Congress will attend the function.

BJP MPs and MLAs from across the country and many eminent persons from various fields will remain present. Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will also attend the function.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Gadkari will enter his 61st year on May 27. Of the 60 years, he has spent 40 years in political and social fields. He began as a grassroots worker of BJP and went on to become the national president of the party. We are organizing these celebrations on a grand scale so that people get inspired by his life and his ideals are preserved for the future.”

Bawankule said, “Gadkari has good relations with politicians of all political parties. This is the reason why prominent leaders of various political parties are attending the function.”

The party will present Rs 1.01 crore to Gadkari on his birthday. This amount has been collected through Rs 1 lakh contribution from all BJP MLAs and MPs of the state. The amount will be donated to 100 charitable institutions. The names of the recipients will be announced by Gadkari.

Singers Sudesh Bhonsale and Vaishali Samant will present a programme of Hindi and Marathi songs at the function at 5.30pm on Saturday. The felicitation ceremony will begin at 7.30pm.

Girish Gandhi, joint convener of the birthday celebrations committee, BJP city president Sudhakar Kohale, ruling party leader in Nagpur Municipal Corporation Sandip Joshi, MLA Vikas Kumbhare, national vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Pravin Datke, BJP district president Rajiv Potdar, Ramesh Mankar, Sanjay Fanje, Ajay Patil, Jaiprakash Gupta and others were present at the press conference.