Bangladesh has conferred its prestigious liberation war honour on Vajpayee for his "active role" in its independence struggle
All security arrangements are in place for the rally, which will be the centrepiece of Vajpayee's two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Vajpayee told reporters while celebrating Holi at his residence in Delhi that he was confident about the BJP's prospects in the key state of the Hindi heartland.
As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mounted pressure on Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani to resign, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday came out in support of Advani, saying he could continue in both posts.
The allusion is simple: Modi is the BJP in Gujarat. This encapsulates a paradigm shift in the way the BJP's internal politics is now being run.
This comes on the eve of the crucial Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board meeting on Sunday.
The former prime minister said he anyway does not do much work in the party now.
"He [Vajpayee] did not do anything effective. I had sent him letters. I had talked to him directly," Narayanan said in a freewheeling interview to Congress MLA P T Thomas carried in a recent issue of Malayalam magazine Manava Samskriti.
Isak Swu and T Muivah had a one-hour meeting with the former prime minister at his residence.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, is fully conscious and is breathing on his own, a senior doctor said on Sunday. "He is breathing on his own and he is fully conscious," Dr Sampath Kumar, chief of the Cardio Thoracic Vascular Sciences Department at the hospital, said. Vajpayee's basic parameters like heart, kidney, liver and blood pressure were normal and he had recovered from pneumonia.
Terming the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh as a "challenge", he said that the party must prepare itself to face it and restore the earlier position of the party in the state.
His meeting with Vajpayee was described as a 'courtesy call'. Manmohan Singh called on the President to inform him about the Cabinet decision to request him to address both Houses of Parliament on June 7.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, whose stature has touched a new high after declining one of the most powerful jobs in the world, looked elated.
The decision appears to have been taken in view of the likely dissolution of Lok Sabha in the first week of next month.
'The NDA leaders expressed total confidence in the prime minister's wisdom in deciding the dates for the polls,' George Fernandes said.
The issue gains importance in view of the recent attempt on the life of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee underwent a routine check-up of his wind pipe at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday.
As the din continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. Similar scenes were witnessed in the House on Thursday leading to its adjournment for the day.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is seriously ill for the past two years, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who did not canvas in the Bihar polls due to objections from ally Janata Dal-United, figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party's list of election campaigners.
The BJP MP has been vocal in empathising with farmers agitating against the three agri laws enacted by the Modi government and sharing Vajpayee's speech is seen as his message to the central government.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is likely to be discharged tomorrow from AIIMS as doctors have today declared him fit to go home after 26 days of stay at the Intensive Care Unit.
The Indian prime minister said end of cross-border terrorism and dismantling of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan will create the atmosphere for talks.
The prime minister also said BJP's rivals would not be able to cobble up a coalition despite making attempts.
The prime minister was accompanied by three Union ministers C P Thakur, Bijoya Chakraborty and Ashok Pradhan.
Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul and his Chennai Super Kings counterpart Ruturaj Gaikwad have been fined Rs 12 lakh each as their teams maintained a slow over-rate in their Indian Premier League match in Lucknow on Friday.
Alleging deterioration in the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Vajpayee had asked BJP workers to carry out a "decisive" agitation to throw out the Samajwadi Party government.
Rehman had suggested that the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration could be the basis for normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.
The Pakistani prime minister in an interview with The Nation said he had no apprehensions about visiting India or to meet his Indian counterpart anywhere in the world.
'We will give Rs 25,000 to parents having a second child or more at the time of delivery itself.'
'We want our military tanks in Lahore, missiles in Rawalpindi and the saffron flag in Karachi,' Togadia said at a trishul diksha programme in Delhi.
Vajpayee's statement comes as a setback to Bharti, who had himself incurred the wrath of the entire second generation\nleadership in the party earlier.
His observations came as news reports spoke of Modi, the Hindutva icon, being angry with Singh's decision.
Books and films were the bonding factors for his friendship with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Kishenchand Advani said.
Expressing serious concern over "two distinct voices" that have emerged "louder" after the Gujarat election, the prime minister said Hindutva was being projected by "some people in a narrow, rigid and extremist manner."
Replying to a letter from former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on June 15, Singh emphasised there was no room for ambiguity regarding India's position on Jammu and Kashmir in its discussions with Pakistan or actions.
