Just about a month after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stopped in his tracks by the protesting farmers during his Punjab visit leading to cancellation of his much-talked about rally in the border district of Ferozepur, the BJP leader will be addressing the state’s electorate virtually on Tuesday — formally launching the party’s ‘Mission Punjab’.
As per the schedule, Modi will be addressing the virtual rallies on February 8 (Tuesday) and 9 (Wednesday), after which the Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the state on February 11. That was not all! As a part of the ‘Mission Punjab’, several party stalwarts and Union Ministers will also be touring the state, starting from February 12, ahead of the polling day —February 20.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who has already addressed some of the rallies in the state's Doaba area, is scheduled to visit the state on February 15 and 17. Besides, BJP national president JP Nadda will also hold rallies on February 12 and 17 to give the much-needed boost to the party’s campaign.
Besides, Union Ministers — Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal; Chief Ministers—Shivraj Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), and Jai Ram Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), along with former Army chief General VK Singh and Bollywood’s dream girl Hema Malini would also be visiting the state to address the rallies between February 12 and 17.
MODI TO COVER 36 ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS IN TWO DAYS
Over the next two days, Prime Minister Modi will virtually address the campaign rallies covering a total five parliamentary segments — 36 assembly constituencies. On Tuesday, Modi is scheduled to address a virtual rally at 3 pm covering 18 assembly segments of Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib parliamentary constituencies. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister will cover Lok Sabha seats in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, and Bathinda — covering nearly 27 assembly segments. For Tuesday’s address, the saffron party has set up LED screens all over the 18 assembly segments, with approximately 50,000 people expected to watch the rally live.
CAMPAIGNING FOR MODI, SHAH AND NADDA IN 6 DISTRICTS
As per BJP’s strategy, it has planned the rallies of prominent leaders — including Modi, Shah and Nadda — in Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and Patiala. In case the ban on political rallies is relaxed and lifted after February 11, the Prime Minister may come to Punjab and address the rally physically, a BJP leader told The Pioneer. Notably, all these districts have urban seats, which the BJP is focusing on.
MODI’s JAN 5 RALLY CANCELLED DUE TO SECURITY LAPSE
On January 5, Modi was scheduled to sound the poll bugle for BJP in Punjab, by addressing a massive rally at Ferozepur. However, due to the blockade on the national highway due to protesting farmers, his convoy got stuck on a flyover for about 15-20 minutes, which the Centre described as “security lapse”. Currently, a Supreme Court-constituted committee, under the leadership of retired Justice Indu Malhotra of the Supreme Court, is probing the matter. The three-member panel was on Punjab visit a day before.
CONG REBELS DAAMAN BAJWA, TIKKA; AWARD-WINNING ACTOR MAHIE GILL, OTHERS JOIN BJP
Congress rebel and youth leader Daaman Thind Bajwa, who rebelled against the party after being denied ticket, on Monday stunned the ruling party by joining the BJP. Bajwa, who was the Indian Youth Congress’s national secretary and also Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress in-charge, had earlier decided to enter the poll arena as independent after being denied the party ticket from Sunam, but later withdrew her nominations.
She had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 election from Sunam, facing defeat from Aam Aadmi Party’s Aman Arora.
Along with her, senior Congress leader and Punjab Medium Industry Development Board chairman Amarjeet Singh Tikka; along with his nephew Punjab Development Youth Board chairman Sukhwinder Singh Bindra also joined the BJP. Interestingly, Bindra had shared the stage along with Congress leaders during Rahul Gandhi’s virtual rally at Ludhiana a day before. “Congress is indulging in family politics only...the party tickets are being given to the sons and brothers of the senior party leaders only,” alleged Bajwa.
Tikka alleged that the Congress was indulging in selling party tickets in Punjab assembly elections to use the funds in Uttar Pradesh elections. He also accused Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of giving tickets to Sidhu Moosewala and Malvika Sood, party candidates from Mansa and Moga, respectively, by taking funds running into crores.
Witnessing several joining on Monday, BJP also inducted Bollywood award-winning actress Mahie Gill and Punjabi actor Hobby Dhaliwal in the party in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Minister and the party’s Punjab election in-charge Gajendra Shekhawat in Chandigarh.
Gill said she wanted to serve the people of Punjab, especially girls, and had joined the BJP because it was the only party that could serve Punjab better. “I want to do something for girls. I want to raise issues related to girls. Now, I have got a medium to do so,” she said. During the farm protests, Dhaliwal was a critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, on joining, he said that he chose to join the party after listening to the PM’s vision for Punja
“That is the main reason behind my change of heart,” said the actor, who has been part of several Punjabi films playing the role in negative shades.