Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has appealed to Indians to donate generously to the Emergency Relief Fund set up by the Bhartiya Janata Party to provide assistance to the tsunami victims.
A committee has been set up to oversee the party's relief efforts and will be headed by former finance minister Jaswant Singh.
Other members of the committee include M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj,Vijay Kumar Malhotra, S S Ahluwalia, Dr Sanjy Joshi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Ved Prakash Goel will be the treasurer.
Vajpayee made it clear that he had no plans to tour the affected areas at the moment.
"I appeal to BJP workers to help in the relief and rehabilitation work," he said.
Briefing media persons at the end of a meeting held under the chairmanship of the former prime minister, Swaraj said that the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states have been told to adopt one village each for relief and rehabilitation efforts.
"We have also advised BJP Members of Parliament to adopt a village and look after it. Our work will only supplement the central government relief efforts. BJP MPs will contribute a month's salary to the relief fund set up by the party. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will coordinate the relief work supervised by the committee," she said.
She said party president L K Advani would give his assessment of the clamity once he reaches Delhi on Wednesday after touring the tsunami-affected areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
"Jaswant Singh will by flying tonight (Tuesday) to Kolkata, from where he will go to Car Nicobar island for his own assessment of the area. He will also be carrying medicines and tents for the victims there," she said.
The BJP will hold a meeting within the next couple of days to chart out its strategy for going about their task.
[Those wishing to help the tsunami victims can contact local BJP offices with their contributions. These units will coordinate with the state units to send the material to the party's central committee.]
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