With the hullaballoo over Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s controversial remarks failing to douse, the BJP’s much-hyped rallies with MPs from across India in the national Capital seems to be losing the sheen.
Boasting of around 30 rallies on Thursday, the party has now curtailed the number to just around five for Friday. Besides, as first reported by The Pioneer, the Delhi BJP promptly cancelled Jyoti’s second rally in a row scheduled at Gole Market on Thursday evening.
The party had promised to host around 30 rallies on Thursday, but in reality several got cancelled. The Delhi BJP stated that the MPs were unable to attend the Jan Sabhas due to the “ongoing marriage season”.
“Out of the 30 proposed rallies, around five were cancelled due to unavailability of the MP concerned. Most of them had several wedding invitations,” said a senior BJP leader. Among those cancelled two meetings were to be held in Mundka whereas one each in Nangloi West, West Sagarpur and Harkesh Nagar.
Interestingly, while the office bearers of the Delhi BJP claim that the daily schedule of MPs who would hold rallies are created after taking time from them, one is forced to wonder how these leaders suddenly became “unavailable”. The exercise is a part of party chief Amit Shah’s directive to bring around 300 BJP MPs to campaign in the city for the upcoming Assembly polls. “The party is revising the strategy of bringing in the MPs. We will go slow and bring in more quality. Good speakers will be roped in as well as famous personalities,” said another BJP leader.
For Friday, the party has scheduled just around half a dozen Jan Sabhas. “The MPs usually visit their constituencies on Fridays. So we kept only around five-six rallies,” said Praveen Shankar Kapoor, Media In-charge, Delhi BJP.
On Thursday, the BJP gave indications that Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti will not be involved in the party’s election campaign in the national Capital. Jyoti was to address the rally at Gole Market area in Central Delhi. But the speaker in her rally was replaced by Satish Gautam, MP from Aligarh.
The decision to not allow her to address the rally came as an unrelenting Opposition kept up its pressure on the Government demanding her sacking for allegedly making communal remarks. “Her rally has been cancelled as the party thought that allowing her to address the rally may impact party’s image,” said a senior leader, adding, “The party is considering cancelling her future rallies.”