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BJP to conduct yagna for PM's speedy recovery

Our Correspondent in Bombay

The Bharatiya Janata Party has organised a yagna at Bombay's Mumbadevi temple to pray for the speedy recovery of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"The yagna will begin at 0930 IST, the same time as the prime minister's operation, and end after the operation," said Raj Purohit, former minister and BJP legislator.

"Twenty-one pundits have been given the task of conducting the yagna. Gopinath Munde, former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, will also participate," Purohit said.

Apparently the yagna is being conducted because Vajpayee had appealed to BJP activists not to do anything that could disturb the public at large. In fact, he has even told his Cabinet colleagues not to visit him in the hospital because that would inconvenience the local people on account of VIP security.

"This yagna is meant for shakti (strength) and for the well-being of the prime minister," said Purohit.

After the operation, some BJP politicians will offer prasad to the public and even the prime minister, though it is not clear if Vajpayee will be allowed to have it.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani is arriving in Bombay on Monday night. He will be with Vajpayee till Tuesday night.

The only other central BJP politician in Bombay is Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan, who is handling the media and is expected to announce the result of the operation. Dr Chittaranjan Ranawat, the New York-based surgeon who will conduct the operation, will speak to the media only at 1800 IST.

The PM's surgery: The full coverage

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