By IANS,
Mumbai : The BJP Sunday cancelled a function where party chief Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi were to be felicitated, a party official said.
Singh was due to be felicitated by Mumbai’s BJP for his recent election as the party’s all-India president while Modi was to be honoured for his victory in the Gujarat assembly elections, said Mumbai BJP president Raj Purohit.
“In view of the severe drought in Maharashtra, both the leaders requested that the felicitation function of March 17 be cancelled,” Purohit said in a terse statement issued here.
Incidentally, the move follows an appeal made to Singh by RTI activist Anil Galgali who wrote to the BJP chief explaining the drought and farmers’ crisis affecting Maharashtra.
“Such a function will send a wrong signal to the people of Maharashtra. This will cause a grave loss of face to the BJP,” Galgali said in his letter to Singh, urging him to direct the Mumbai BJP to cancel the felicitation function.
Singh and Modi were to be felicitated at the sprawling Somaiya Grounds in north-east Mumbai next Sunday.