Bhopal: All political parties gathered to pay homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday. Besides BJP leaders, former state Congress president Suresh Pachauri, Deputy Speaker of Vidhan Sabha Rajendra Singh, the leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left parties were present at the prayer meet.
Union minister Uma Bharti said that she would always regret not being able say sorry to the BJP patriarch. The minister said that she had always created hassles for Vajpayee and though she tried to apologize to him, it never happened. Bharati said she wanted to say sorry before everybody and cry out loud, “Baapji (Atalji) I love you a lot.”
Speaking at a prayer meeting Bharti went down the memory lane to recall her association with Vajpayee. The BJP leader said that she met Vajpayee first when she was eight-year-old and used to deliver religious discourses. Bharti said that though she was considered close to LK Advani politically, she had always been emotionally attached to Vajpayee.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that he took pride in seeing Vajpayee in person, and that it was because of his direction, that he had contested Vidhan Sabha election from Rahogarh in 2003. Chouhan said when it was decided that he would be made the Chief Minister he had met Vajpayee and told him that he had no experience of administration.
Vajpayee then told him, “Work hard. Be sensitive. Don’t keep away from people. That is the most important thing.” At the time of paying tributes to Vajpayee, Pachauri became so emotional that he looked teary. He said he got information about Vajpayee’s health from the doctors of AIIMS. Congress leader said that when he enquired about the former Prime Minister’s health, the director of AIIMS Guleria told him he (Dr Guleria) was there to look after Vajpayee.
National secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Kailash Vijayvargiya said though Vajpayee had been mum for many years every person thought the former Prime Minister was close to him. SP leaders Raghu Thakur and Yash Yadav, Anil Pandey of the BSP and leaders of the Left parties spoke about Vajpayee.
CS, DGP, IAS officers remain present
All IAS and IPS officers, including Chief Secretary BP Singh and DGP Rishi Shukla, were present at the condolence meeting. General Administration Department called them up to remain present at the meet.
