Advani turns 90, celebrates with visually challenged children

New Delhi:  BJP veteran L K Advani today celebrated his 90th birthday with visually challenged children, even as a host of top party ministers greeted him at his residence here. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and former prime minister Manmohan Singh also personally greeted Advani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Advani on Twitter saying, “Birthday greetings to respected Advani Ji. I pray that he is blessed with good health and a long life.” 

“Advani Ji is a political stalwart, a leader who has distinguished himself through hard work and dedication towards our nation,” he said in another early morning tweet.

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh was the first one to arrive at Advani’s Prithviraj road residence, many other union ministers visited him during the day and greeted the former deputy prime minister.

Advani invited visually-impaired children as his “special guests” to celebrate his birthday with at his residence. The BJP veteran, who turned 90, personally fed delicacies to the children and ate with them in the front lawns of his residence.

The 90 kids from the Lodhi road blind school were later presented with school bags by the BJP veteran. Among the host of union ministers who personally wished the BJP veteran were External affairs Sushma Swaraj, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also wished Advani on Twitter saying, “Happy Birthday, Advani ji. Have a lovely day.”  A large number of BJP leaders also visited the party veteran who steered the party in the bad times when its numbers in Lok Sabha had plummeted to a mere two MPs.