250 guests from Kashi to attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony

Varanasi: At least 250 special guests from Varanasi have been invited to witness the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. The special guests from Modi’s parlimaentary constituency will be accommodated in a special gallery named ‘Kashi Sankul’ from where they will witness their MP take oath as PM for the second time in row.
“We received final list of invitees and invitation for each guest from the PMO on Wednesday morning. Then we started coordinating with the invitees to ensure that all of them get invitation timely. Special coaches were attached to Shivganga Express and Manduadih-New Delhi Express with the help of railway ministry,” Dharmendra Singh, vice-president of BJP’s Kashi region unit, told TOI.
As the list of invitees arrived, party office-bearers swung into action and formed a coordination team to contact each guest to communicate the arrangements as the departure had to start from 7 pm.
The guests started departing in groups as one left for New Delhi via Shivganga Express from Manduadih railway station on Wednesday evening. Another group left by Manduadih-New Delhi Express at night while the remaining invitees will board the morning flight on Thursday.
Modi’s election agent, Vidya Sagar Rai, who received his election symbol as well as the certificate of victory, said, “The list of invitees comprises names of Padma awardees Pt Chhannulal Mishra, Prashanti Singh, Rajnikant and son of late folk singer Hiralal Yadav. Besides, the four proposers of Modi, the vice-chancellors of Banaras Hindu University, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, industrialists, head of Kashi Vidwat Parishad and local dignitaries are also among the invitees.
The other Kashi region unit vice-president Nagendra Raghuvanshi said that all MLAs, MLCs, state level, Kashi region, city unit office-bearers as well as poll management team members from Varanasi also figure in the list.
Kashi region unit president Mahesh Chandra Srivastava said, “Only Varanasi has got such large number of invites. All the guests from PM’s constituency will be seated in a special gallery named Kashi Sankul.”
Jubilant on getting invitation, Kashi region IT cell in-charge, Vaibhav Kapoor said, “In 2014, only 40 party leaders got invitation for oath taking ceremony. But, this time around 250 people from Kashi are getting this opportunity. All party leaders and workers are pleased as they had never imagined that PM Modi will thank them in this style,” he added.
Modi, who did not campaign for himself after filing his nomination on April 26, had reached the city on May 27 to express gratitude to Kashi citizens, party leaders and workers for ensuring his victory.