THE stage is set for the 96th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan to be held at Rashtrapita Mahatma Gandhi Sahityanagari on Friday, February 3. Narendra Chapalgaonkar, senior litterateur is President of this year’s annual literary convention. State Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will inaugurate the literary meet organised in the centenary year of Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh, at the Acharya Vinoba Bhave Sabha Mandapin Wardha. Nitin Gadkari, Union Surface Transport Minister, Deepak Kesarkar, Maharashtra Education and Marathi Language Minister, Bharat Sasane, litterateur and president of last literary meet, Datta Meghe, Welcome Committee President, along with Dr Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Hindi poet and critic, renonwed Hindi poet Dr Kumar Vishwas, DrVishwajit Kadam, MLA, Dr P D Patil, Chancellor of Dr D Y Patil Deemed University will remain prominently present. Prior to that, in the morning a ‘Granth Dindi’ will be taken out. Prof Usha Tambe, President of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal, will hoist the flag.

Aseries of events have been planned throughout the day on Friday. They will include speech of Sammelan’s President, conferences, poets’ meets etc. Office-bearers, writers, litterateurs and representatives of various organisations are entering Wardha to attend the 3-day meet. Various committees are working under the guidance of Pradip Date, President of Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh, and Working President of the Sammelan.