BJP leaders to join Narendra Modi, Amit Shah on day-long fast: A look at different ministers' programme on 12 April

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will observe a day-long fast on Thursday over disruptions during the Budget Session of the Parliament. All BJP MPs will observe fast in their respective constituencies, the party said. Here is the programme of different political leaders and ministers who would take part in the fast.

Modi will observe the fast but that would not stop him from continuing routine official work including inaugurating 10th edition of Defence Expo in Chennai at Tiruvidanthal, in Kancheepuram district that has been on edge due to protests over Cauvery water issue.

“The prime minister will also visit the Cancer Institute, Adyar in Chennai. He will unveil the plaque inaugurating the diamond jubilee building, palliative care centre (Mahvir Ashray) at Shriperumbadur, Daycare centre and nurses quarter at the Adyar Cancer Institute,” an official statement from PMO said on Wednesday.

Amit Shah will observe a hunger strike in Hubli in poll-bound Karnataka, while party MPs will fast in their constituencies. While Union information and technology minister Ravishankar Prasad will observe the fast at Gardani Bagh in Patna, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj will be in New Delhi. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari may be out of India but Giriraj Singh will be in Nawada and Mahesh Sharma will be in Noida.

Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will be in Delhi observing the fast while attending to official work; Union health minister JP Nadda will be in Varanasi.

Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javdekar will be in Bengaluru. Union ministers Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi and Minakshi Lekhi will be at Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place in Delhi staging the protest and observing the fast. Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will observe the fast in Chennai while Union minister Thawerchand Gehlot will be in Indore at the time of the protest.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in Chennai that she would also fast to protest the disruption of Parliament by the opposition during the just-concluded Budget Session. “I will be fasting. PM Modi is also fasting. Fasting is not going to stop him from coming here,” Sitharaman said, after opening the DefExpo 2018 that showcases India’s capability to manufacture arms and weapons platform systems.

Union Minister Vijay Goel said that he will join the nationwide fast on Thursday morning at Shastri Park here against the divisive politics of Opposition especially the Congress, IANS reported.

According to sources, the party will also observe the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, a social reformer from a backward caste, on Wednesday as Samta Divas (equality day). While observing fast, Modi will not disturb his daily official routine of meeting people and officials, and clearing files, sources said. The prime minister will address the MPs and interact with some of them on the occasion, they said.

In a statement, the BJP said that Prime Minister Modi along with all the party MPs will observe fast on Thursday, to reveal the “undemocratic and anti-development face of the Congress party, which stalled the proceedings of Parliament during the Budget Session”.

The Congress, on Tuesday, said Modi’s day-long fast was a “farce”, adding that the prime minister should instead apologise to the youth, Dalits and other sections of the society, who were allegedly let down by his government.

With inputs from agencies