New Delhi : The culture ministry will organise a 'Tiranga bike rally' from Red Fort to Parliament on Wednesday morning for MPs, Union minister Pralhad Joshi has said and appealed to members of all political parties to attend it. Briefing reporters after the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday, the parliamentary affairs minister stressed that it was a culture ministry programme and not of his party as he asked MPs of all parties to join the exercise at 8.30 am.
At the meeting, BJP president J P Nadda laid out a host of exercises for the party members during a week-long programme starting from August 9 in the run up to August 15, the 75th anniversary of India's Independence. Nadda asked party members to take out 'prabhat pheri' (morning procession) between 9 am and 11 am to publicise the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign while its youth wing will carry out "Tiranga yatra" on bikes across the country, Joshi said.
Under the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged everyone to hoist or display the national flag at their house between August 13 and 15. Party members will also undertake 'prabhat pheri' down to the booth level between August 11 and 13, playing 'Raghupati raghav raja Ram', Mahatma Gandhi's favourite devotional song or India's national song 'Vande mataram', he said.
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In his remarks, Nadda asked MPs to ensure their presence in the party programmes and called for working to strengthen the organisation during the week at booths where the BJP has not done well in recent polls. The party will also be observing Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14. Modi had announced it last year in the memory of the struggles and sacrifices of people during the country's division, saying the pain of partition can never be forgotten.
In the meeting, the BJP president took note of the party's good performance in recent elections, including the local polls in Madhya Pradesh. The party MPs are set to meet again on August 5 for a briefing ahead of the vice presidential poll on August 6. The ruling National Democratic Alliance candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is set to win the poll as a strong majority of electoral college, which comprises all MPs, is backing him. Veteran Congress leader and former governor Margaret Alva is the joint opposition candidate. PTI
