The Hindu : Programmes lined up for Sahib's birthday bash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Programmes lined up for Sahib's birthday bash

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14. He is already being dubbed as the "Rashtriya Nayak'' or the "national hero''. It seems the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has competition on hands from none other than the Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, who is gearing up to celebrate his 62nd birthday bash in style on Monday. Various programmes including a Punjabi pop nite by the popular start, Mikka, has been lined up for the occasion.

This opportunity to celebrate his birthday could not have come at a much more appropriate time for Mr. Verma as it would provide him an opportunity to be among thousands of people who have "supposedly'' organised the celebrations. Interestingly, even the Gramin Swabhiman Sanstha, a NGO floated by Mr. Verma and his supporters, is also organising a programme at various villages in the Outer Delhi Parliamentary constituency on the occasion. Banner and posters proclaiming Mr. Verma as the "national hero'' have come up in various parts of the Outer Delhi constituency, a bid by his supporters to bring Mr. Verma at par with the "Vikas Purush'' often referred to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and "Loh Purush'' as the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, is called in party circles. The idea to proclaim Mr. Verma as the "national hero'' has been picked by his supporters from these national leaders. All these celebrations are in contrast to the `nature' of Mr. Verma who travelled in a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) after he vacated his official residence at 9 Shyamnath Marg after being removed as the Chief Minister of Delhi in 1998.

The Shalimar Bagh and Pitampura Mitra Mandal have extended the invitation cards for the Punjabi pop nite. For the other function by the Gramin Swabhiman Sanstha, nearly 5,000 people are expected to be in attendance in addition to a large number of national BJP leaders. In fact, it is not known if Mr. Verma has given his consent for the Punjabi pop nite function at Pitampura as he has been generally against such large-scale celebrations.

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