Gujarat kickstarts golden jubilee celebrations

Gujarat kicked off the golden jubilee celebrations of its formation at a grand function here Friday with state lawmakers vowing to work to take the state to greater heights of glory. 



The MLAs converged at the flower-decorated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Assembly bhawan for the ceremony, titled Swarnim Gujarat Sansadiya Parishad-2010.



'Gujarat was born on May 1, 1960, but the year 2010 begins today so we have formally begun the countdown with this resolve,' said Chief Minister Narendra Modi as he formally moved the resolution. 



Among those present were Leader of the Congress opposition Shaktisinhji Gohil and former Congress chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki. Solanki's son Bharat Solanki, union minister of state for power, was there along with union cabinet colleagues from Gujarat, Dinsha Patel and Tushar Chaudhari, as also were veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani and party colleague Arun Jaitely. 



Speaker after speaker praised the indomitable spirit of the Gujarati and hoped that the next 50 years would take Gujarat to numero uno position.