Over 100 corporate leaders join BJP

NEW DELHI: In what would showcase the business-friendly image of the BJP, over 100 corporate honchos joined the party yesterday in probably the first-of-its-kind en masse recruitment of private executives in a political party.

They joined the party in the presence of BJP chief Amit Shah and Anurag Thakur, president, Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who was instrumental in getting them on board.

Shah said the corporate leaders who joined yesterday weren't joining the party but a family. "Over 100 CEOs became members of the BJP today which included Perveiz Alamgir Khan of Lufthansa, Henry Moses, country head of Qatar Airways, Neeta Agarwal of AT&T, Jagpreet Lamba of AIKON Group" among others, a statement by the party said.

The list also included Kapil Kumaria of Corporate Alliance group, Anil Parashar of Interglobe Technologies besides Dr Naveen Talwar, senior orthopaedic surgeon, Fortis Hospital; Rajeev Tyagi, senior advocate and Rajiv Bhambri, CEO, India Abroad newspaper, USA/Canada.

Many top executives of companies like Bank of America, Honeywell, SpiceJet, Bombardier, UTC, KPMG were present on the occasion, the statement said.

Addressing the business leaders, Shah said he was confident that GST would be a reality from April 2016. Elaborating on the steps taken by the BJP government like Make in India, land acquisition ordinance and mines ordinance to change business climate and restore business confidence, Shah said the perception about the country was changing fast across the globe and India would be riding the high growth path in the next couple of year

Shah appealed to corporates to take benefit of newly launched schemes of the government and create employment opportunities in the country.

Thakur said it was indeed a matter of great pleasure that professionals, administrators, CEOs and entrepreneurs' (PACE) had joined the BJP and the party's activities would certainly gain pace by their joining.

Expressing confidence, Thakur said since the top bosses have joined, other employees working in these organizations would also be motivated to join the BJP.