Modi seeks blessings of party veterans

Mangaluru:

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi has his hands full in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, but this has not stopped him from calling

senior

functionaries of the party, who gave their youth and time, and weathered many adversities, to ensure that the BJP is the political force that it is today. Modi, in a series of calls to these senior

party

functionaries, not only enquired about their health, but also sought their blessings and discussed ideas with them, to govern the country better.

Tweets by state BJP chief

Nalin Kumar Kateel

revealed this facet of the Prime Minister’s working style. He said that Modi had called up

Ram Bhat

in Dakshina Kannada and D H Shankar Murthy, who was the former chairman of the state legislative council. Ram Bhat, and chief minister B S Yediyurappa, were the only two MLAs that the BJP had, when the former was elected for the first time from Puttur, underscoring his seniority and contribution to the party, said Nalin.

Describing this facet of the Prime Minister, as an ethos that the RSS imbibed in its rank and file, Nalin tweeted that the BJP never forgets its seniors, even in the worst of times. “The Prime Minister has been calling party seniors who were jailed during the Emergency and former MLAs like Ram Bhat, who have a unique role in the party’s history, and is seeking their blessings,” Nalin said, adding this personal touch of the Prime Minister, sends a rejuvenating message to the party cadre, that their sacrifice is not forgotten.

Nalin said that the Prime Minister surmised from Ram Bhat’s voice, that he was keeping in good health and spirits. An elated Shankar Murthy said that his 2-minute chat with the Prime Minister left him pleasantly surprised. “The Prime Minister calling a karyakarta in these times is not a joke,” he said. Their talk was about Murthy’s personal health and how he was spending time at home, and they also discussed about the pandemic. It was a general conversation, but coming from the Prime Minister, it meant a lot, he said.