'Kashi Sankul' for 250 guests at Rashtrapati Bhawan

Kashi region unit president Mahesh Chandra Srivastava said: "Only Varanasi has got such large number of invites. All the guests from Prime Minister's constituency will be seated in a special gallery named 'Kashi Sankul'."

Varanasi: A special gallery called "Kashi Sankul" is being set up at the Rashtrapati Bhawan to accommodate the 250 special guests who have been invited from here in Uttar Pradesh to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister on Thursday. According to Dharmendra Singh, vice president of BJP's Kashi region, "We received the final list of invitees and invitation for each guest from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Wednesday. Then we started coordinating with the invitees to ensure that all of them get invitation timely. Special coaches were attached to the Shivganga Express and Manduadih-New Delhi Express with the help of Railway Ministry."  Party office-bearers swung into action and formed coordination teams to contact each guest to communicate the arrangements made for them. Majority of the guests left Varanasi on Wednesday night. Another group is taking flights to Delhi on Thursday. The list of invitees comprises Padma awardees Pt Chhannulal Misra, Prashanti Singh, Rajnikant and son of late folk singer Hiralal Yadav. Besides, the four proposers of Modi, the vice-chancellors of Banaras Hindu University, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, industrialists, head of Kashi Vidwat Parishad and local dignitaries are also among the invitees. All MLAs, MLCs, state level, Kashi region, city unit office-bearers as well as poll management team members from Varanasi also figure in the list. Kashi region unit president Mahesh Chandra Srivastava said: "Only Varanasi has got such large number of invites. All the guests from Prime Minister's constituency will be seated in a special gallery named 'Kashi Sankul'." Kashi region IT cell in-charge, Vaibhav Kapoor said: "In 2014, only 40 party leaders got invitation for oath taking ceremony. But, this time around 250 people from Kashi are getting this opportunity. All party leaders and workers are pleased as they had never imagined that Prime Minister Modi will thank them in this way." Modi had visited Varanasi to express his gratitude to Kashi citizens, party leaders and workers for ensuring his victory