BJP National Council will be star studded affair

New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) Film stars who have campaigned for the BJP in the elections will add razzmatazz to the BJP National Council meeting to be held here on January 28 and 29 at Ramlila Grounds.

Many cine star BJP MPs like Jitendra, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha will be attending in their capacity as Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members while star personalities aligned with the BJP like Suresh Oberoi, Nitish Bhardwaj, Mukhesh Khanna, Madhur Bhandarkar and singer Anup Jalota are among those extended special invitation to attend the two-day National Council by BJP president Rajnath Singh, party sources said. Others in the list of invitees include academicians, educationists, social and political activists who are not party members.

In the Mumbai National Council meeting the party had invited NDA Convenor George Fernandes and the party president is entitled to invite 40 members of his choice to attend the council meeting.

In a related development Mr Singh had called on former Vice- President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat yesterday to explore the possibilities of getting him to the National Council meeting.

However the party has not decided yet if the erstwhile BJP stalwart should be invited or not.

The sources said the the BJP president's meeting was more to do with Mr Shekhawat's health than inviting him for the National Council meeting. It is unlikely that the former Vice-President will be attending the meeting as he is not even a primary member of the BJP after his resignation from the party on being elected Vice-President six and a half years ago.

When asked if Mr Shekhawat has been invited for the council, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi avoided a direct reply stating he had not checked the list of special invitees. He said BJP president and Leader of Opposition L K Advani after their Ramlila address will jointly address a meeting and an anti-terror rally at Rampur, Uttar Pradesh where terrorists had killed eight CRPF jawans last month.

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