By IANS,
Gandhinagar : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Gujarat will Saturday formally launch the celebrations of the state’s golden jubilee with a grand function at the Sardar Patel Stadium here.
A galaxy of BJP leaders, including NDA chairman and former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, respectively, are expected to attend the function, to be inaugurated by Governor Kamla Beniwal with Chief MInister Narendra Modi at hand.
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and former governor of West Bengal Viren J.Shah will also be present.
President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari are among those who have sent messages of greetings to the the people of the state.
A spectacle to beat even Diwali, the festival of lights, is in the offing as all government buildings in the state and key thoroughfares will be lit up Saturday. Following a request by the government, even private buildings are being illuminated.
The Congress opposition has decided to boycott the official function and hold a parallel celebration, which is likely to be attended by chief ministers of party-ruled states including Sheila Dixit (Delhi), Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Haryana) and Digambar Kamat(Goa), among others.