Ex-govt officials join BJP

A total of 24 people including retired senior government officials joined the BJP in presence of party national president Amit Shah at the booth level party workers convention held on Friday in Raipur.

The officials include Rajiv Shrivastava, former director general of police; N K S Thaur, former DID; Ashok Singh, former IRS officer; former IFS officers Krishna Kumar and Rakesh Tiwari; Vimal Chandra, former information and broadcasting service officer and Hemant Dhagamwar, former manager at NTPC.

The other members are Shubhangi Apte, social worker; Arvind Shrivastava, former IRS; R K Sharma, former ASP; former SDP Banshilal Kurrey and Bhojendra Uike; Colonel Sunil Mishra; Ajit Choubey, former DSP; Pradeep Mishra, former DSP; Shamsheer Khan, former DSP; Hemu Yadu, historian; Mohammed Siraj, archaeologist; Ghanshyam Sharma, music therapy expert; Dr Neeta, psychologist; Subash Verma, former Jail trainer; Kishore Trivedi, former journalist and R C Sinha, former IAS officer.

Highlights of Shah Visit

Rain delays events

The showers since Friday resulted in a damp venue. The dome and chairs were all wet.

Amit Shah was to arrive at 11.00 am at Raipur. As per party sources, his arrival was delayed due to the rain and the venue's condition.

Additional labourers were engaged to clean the chairs and clear the waterlogged area in front of the stage. Plastic covers were used to cover the wet sofas.

Rajesh Munat, minister for PWD, housing and environment, was manning the stage alone. He was seen giving necessary instructions to the ground staff to ensure that the water is removed.

The meeting of party workers started after 2.00 pm. The inauguration ceremony of Kushabhau Thakre BJP headquarters auditorium was done after 4.30 pm.

Member of Parliament from Rajnandgaon, Abhishek Singh, son of Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh, and former bureaucrat O P Choudhary were also present during Shah's meeting.

MLA injured

Om Prakash Rathia, Former BJP MLA from Dharamjaigarh, was injured in an accident on Thursday night while he was arriving to Raipur to attend Shah's meeting.

Om Prakash has been admitted to a hospital and the doctors have said that his condition is stable.

The incident occurred near Janjgir-Hasaud and it was reported that Om Prakash's car had hit a truck. He was accompanied by three party workers, who also have been injured.

Officer dead

A traffic officer, who was going to join duty on arrival of Amit Shah, died after a tree fell on his head.

Police team arrived and rushed him to a hospital but Akash Gosai, the officer deputed at Kayabandha police station and a resident of Dongergaon, was declared brought dead.

Rain and strong winds had caused the tree to be uprooted.

The police have sent the body for post-mortem and have intimated the officer's family members.

Not so swachch

At the meeting venue, one could see plastic covers everywhere.

Party workers, coming from all the parts of the state, were given lunch boxes in plastic covers. These covers were thrown on the sides and in the parking area.