PM Modi forms two committees for Deendayal's birth centenary celebrations

New Delhi: Two days ahead of the 100th birthday of Deendayal Upadhyay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday constituted two committees for commemoration of the centenary of BJP's ideologue.

The Prime Minister will chair a 149-member National Committee while Home Minister Rajnath Singh will head a 23-member Executive Committee, a PMO statement said.

The members of the National Committee include former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and H.D. Deve Gowda, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar and BJP President Amit Shah.

This committee also includes Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP leader and former Minister Sharad Pawar, JD(U) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, Lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Film Director Chandraprakash Dwivedi, former Hockey player Dhanraj Pillai, former Badminton player Pullela Gopichand and founder of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak.

Former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti, Retired Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswami, Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap and Environmentalist C.P. Bhatt have also been included in the National Committee.

The committee also includes several Governors, Chief Ministers, Scientists, Journalists, Academicians, Social Workers and Spiritual Leaders, the PMO statement said.

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma will be the Convenor of the Committee.

Upadhyay, who was born on September 25, 1916 in Mathura, was the ideologue of Jan Sangh, the parent organisation of BJP.

BJP is planning year-long celebrations which will be inaugurated by the party chief tomorrow at its National Council at Kozhikode.