A file photo of Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee interacting with the BJP cadre when he visited Visakhapatnam in 2004. more-in At a time when the entire country is mourning former Prime Minsiter Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the political leaders in the city paid rich tributes to the leader on Thursday and reminisced about the moments they shared with the BJP veteran. Mr. Vajpayee had visited Visakhapatnam and its neighbouring areas several times for campaigning right from the his days as a leader in the Jan Sangh, the precursor to the BJP. Senior BJP leader P.V. Chalapati Rao recalled a number of such visits and closely moving with Mr. Vajpayee during the latter’s tours. Meeting and campaigns “Mr. Vajpayee’s first visit to the city was way back in 1967 when he arrived to campaign for Ch. Rama Rao who contested from Vizianagaram Assembly. In the 1980s, when Mr. Vajpayee, Kushabhau Thackeray and me visited Srikakulam, we were allotted one of the two rooms in the ZP Guest House. Mr. Thackeray had slept on the floor,” he said. The former Prime Minister also addressed the victory meeting of BJP after it won the corporation elections with N.S.N. Reddy becoming mayor in 1981. He later became indisposed and had been taken to the KGH. During the Emergency, Mr. Vajpayee was in jail, but praised Mr. Chalapati Rao when he came to know about his going underground for 19 months. During the 1998 elections, Mr. Vajpayee addressed a number of meetings at Anakapalle where Mudragada Padmanabham, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and actor Mohanbabu joined the party. He also addressed a meeting at AU Engineering College Grounds. ‘Bharat Parikrama Yatra’ MP K. Haribabu recalled that the response to his public meeting during the 1998 Lok Sabha election was raving. In 1995, Mr. Vajpayee addressed meetings at Anakapalle and at Lankapalli Bullayya College Grounds in the city as a part of his ‘Bharat Parikrama Yatra.’ The visit during the 2004 elections was his last visit when he shared the dais with the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. His contribution was immense to several projects in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Haribabu recalled. “In 1998-99, Mr. Vajpayee was instrumental in preventing the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant going before Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction by announcing a bailout package of ?1,330 crore. The Visakhapatnam airport that suffered from poor connectivity received a boost with the sanctioning of night-landing facility and instrumentation landing system during his tenure,” Mr. Haribabu said. Besides the golden quadrilateral project, the Port Connectivity Road was also laid during his tenure as well as the housing under WAMBAY scheme, he added. ‘A statesman’ Mr. Rao’s son and MLC P.V.N. Madhav had several childhood memories including attending the five-day State BJP meeting in Warangal with his father. Mr. Vajpayee visited the Swadesi Manch programmes in New Delhi when he was Prime Minister in which Mr. Madhav took part. “I had learnt Hindi inspired by the late Prime Minister’s speech and oratory skills. I had the highest respect for the departed leader who went beyond the politics and was a statesman,” he said. In a party meeting in 1987-88 at AU Convocation Hall, Mr. Vajpayee was presented a purse of ?1 lakh to mark his ‘shastipoorti,’ said BMS leader K. Bhavanisankarudu. Mr. Vajpayee told him that he too studied law at a night college. Senior BJP leader J. Prithviraj said the former Prime Minister visited the city in 1983 as the first president of the BJP when he was felicitated at Indira Priyadarshini Municipal Stadium. A condolence meeting was held at the city BJP office with Mr. Haribabu, Mr. Madhav, P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, M. Nagendra and Kasi Viswanatha Raju participated.

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