Anil Ambani joins Swachh Bharat drive

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani, billionaire owner of the Reliance Anil Ambani group, on Wednesday joined the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Clean India” initiative by picking up the broom to clean an area outside Churchgate station in Mumbai city. He also invited nine celebrities, including Asian Games goldmedallist boxer Mary Kom, Amitabh Bachchan and Sania Mirza, to join the initiative.

Launching the Swachh Bharat campaign last week, Modi had named nine celebrities, including Ambani, cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar and film stars Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra, to take the initiative forward. He asked them to nominate nine more people to join the campaign with a hope that the chain will continue.

Other personalities invited by Ambani include Shobha De, senior journalist Shekhar Gupta, Hrithik Roshan, Telugu film star Nagarjuna, Prasoon Joshi and Runners Club of India.

“Wonderful effort by Shri Anil Ambani, who cleaned the area around Churchgate Station in Mumbai along with his friends, prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

“I am honoured to be invited by our respected Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi to join the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’,” Ambani said. “I dedicate myself to this movement and will invite nine other leading Indians to join me in the Clean India campaign,” Ambani had said on October 2.

Modi used Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, to start the cleanliness drive and ordered ministers to sweep areas clean.