Lucknow: Sending a clear message that he would be taking forward the legacy of veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Thursday made a conscious effort to project a united face of the party.
Singh, who arrived here for the first time after being named as the party candidate from the prestigious Lok Sabha seat, which has remained faithful to Vajpayee, was accompanied by Shiv Kumar, the former prime minister`s close aide.
Singh was received at the airport by sitting MP Lalji Tandon, who was recently in the news over his reported reservations on leaving the seat for the BJP president.
The three also shared the vehicle on their ride from the airport to the party office and sat side by side while addressing the press conference later.
Spelling out his agenda for the city if elected to the Lok Sabha from here, Singh said he would try to follow the path shown by Vajpayee, who had represented it in the past, to develop it as a biotech city besides cleaning river Gomti as visualised by the veteran leader.
Singh is on a three-day visit to the state capital.
During the visit, when the Home Minister met jawans and officers of the force over snacks, Singh said he wants the issues and problems faced by the force should be addressed on a priority basis as he issued on-the-spot instructions to officials to address disparities in allowances given to CRPF personnel.
He asked the senior officers of the paramilitary to "attend to the concerns of their personnel in a friendly manner while ensuring discipline in the force."
He said the personnel should always remain motivated.
During the presentation, CRPF highlighted the fact that the number of violence-related incidents in Naxal-hit and militancy prone areas of Jammu and Kashmir have gone down.
The force also highlighted the fact that creating roads in Maoist-affected areas was essential for ushering in development.
CRPF, the sources said, also raised a demand of increasing flying hours for helicopters in anti-Naxal operations.
Calling the force a `Prahari` (guard) of democracy, Rajnath praised CRPF for helping in successful conduct of recent general elections in the country.
CRPF has close to 3-lakh personnel in its ranks and it was raised in 1939 to tackle internal security and law and order problems.
