Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday on December 25 to be celebrated as 'Good Governance Day' by BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP has decided to celebrate former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday as “good governance day” from this year onwards and has asked party Members of Parliament to spend an hour on December 25 in their constituency to work for cleanliness as part of the Swachh Bharat programme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party on Tuesday and said the Varanasi Member of Parliament – a reference to himself – will also spend an hour in his constituency on December 25 to work for “Swachta (cleanliness)”.

The Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament have been asked to choose a constituency which the party has never won for this purpose.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said a core committee, with him and Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Anant Kumar as members, has been formed to chalk out the plans for celebrating Vajpayee’s birthday.

Vajpayee, who will turn 90 on December 25, has been ailing for sometime. While the amiable former Prime Minister is liked across party lines, marking his birthday as “good governance day” has started murmurs that the saffron party is trying to appropriate yet another important day.

The National Democratic Alliance government launched Swachh Bharat programme on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi while Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary saw the government celebrating Sardar Patel’s birthday.

Rudy said BJP will organise seminars, and also highlight the achievements of the NDA government under Vajpayee on December 25. This includes programmes like the Golden Quadrilateral and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana among others.