BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani has praised two party chief ministers in his latest blog for conceiving two unique events he attended last week -- Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh for organising pilgrimage train across the country for the BPL (below poverty line) senior citizens and Narendra Modi for arranging 3,900 school children to play chess the whole day in Gandhinagar to create a world record.

He was in Bhopal on September 3 to flag off the first of the trains booked by the Madhya Pradesh government up to March 13 that carried 1,000 as the first lot from among some 11,000 applicants. He said the unique project would endear Chauhan to people "as much as, if not more than his extremely imaginative Ladli Laxmi Yojana," now copied by other BJP states.

The special train he flagged off to Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu will carry the senior citizens, mostly couple "ecstatic with joy getting such an extraordinary opportunity," will carry them to 17 pilgrim spots including the famous Hindus' "4 Dhams" of Kedarnath (Uttarakhand), Dwarkapuri (Gujarat), and Jagannath Puri (Orissa), besides Rameshwaram.

Advani notes that five others selected are Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan), Amritsar (Punjab), Sammedshikharji (Jharkhand), Shrawan Belgola (Karnatak) and Velangani Church, Nagapatnam (Tamilnadu), pointing out that these are particularly sacred for Muslims, Sikhs, Jains and Christians.

The remaining eight are Vaishnodevi and Amarnath (Jammu & Kashmir), Tirupathi (Andhra), Badrinath and Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Kashi (U.P.), Shirdi (Maharashtra), and Gaya (Bihar). Advani says the chief minister told him that as the project proceeds, they may think of adding to this list.

On the chess matches organised by Modi in Gandhinagar in the presence of world champion Viswanathan Anand, Advani writes: "I feel proud that state governments run by the BJP keep thinking all the while what new and innovative programme they can organise for the welfare of their respective states."

He goes on to quote Modi telling the gathering that he was asked why he were spending so much time with school children who will not be voters in the fast approaching Assembly elections. "School children may not have the right to vote. But I believe they are the future of Gujarat, and so I am very much concerned about their progress and achievements," Modi said.

Advani pointed out that a girl Dhyani Dave simultaneously played against 150 other girls and defeated 132 of these. He noted that the event has gone observers from the Limca Book of Records witnessed and decided to include it in the 2012 edition as a "world record" as under: "Most number of chess players at one venue.

The entry will state: "A world record was set on Dec 24, 2010 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat,  when around 20,500 players  played  simultaneously  during  the  Swarnim Chess Mahotsav, 2010. World champion Viswanathan  Anand was among those who gave a simultaneous display."