Though denied permission by the Returning Officer to hold a rally besides two other events — Ganga pujan and a meeting with 150 intellectuals of the constituency — the BJP on Wednesday devised an alternative to ensure that its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi still hogs the limelight upon his arrival in Varanasi on Thursday ahead of the May 12 polls for the seat.
The BJP decided Modi will travel by road from the helipad at the BHU to the party headquarters to meet party workers, which means, in effect, it will convert into a roadshow. The BJP will also hold dharnas outside the BHU, led by senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah, and outside the Election Commission in Delhi. The decisions followed denial of permission by the RO, Pranjal Yadav, to the BJP to hold a rally in Veeniya Bagh on grounds of security concerns, as it is a crowded area.
Jaitley shot off three letters to the EC, whom he also accused of being a “mute spectator” to the “highly partisan” role of the RO, demanding the removal of the officer. The RO said permission was given for the rally’s conduct at an alternate location. But the BJP turned it down with Jaitley saying: “We are not out of our mind to seek permission for a meeting of our prime ministerial candidate at a place which can accommodate only 2,000 people.”
The developments unfolded even as the Congress planned its vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Varanasi on May 10, the last day of campaigning for the parliamentary seat, in a move seen as a retaliation for Modi’s act of breaking the unwritten code by holding a rally in Amethi in support of BJP candidate Smriti Irani. The BJP termed the denial of permissions as a “ban” and “unprecedented as it was for the first time a candidate was denied permission to hold a rally in his own constituency”.
Jaitley, who even spoke to CEC VS Sampath, alleged that a free and fair election is not possible in Varanasi if the RO continues in the post. Jaitley also made a veiled attack on the three-member Election Commission saying: “When weak people sit in high positions, democracy is under threat.”
In his letters to the Election Commission, Jaitley said the BJP had informed the RO on Monday about the rallies and sent a written application, but was told only on Tuesday that the venue in the city had been booked by one “Mr Khan” who wanted to put up the national flag there. The official also allegedly cited Intelligence alerts to refuse the BJP’s request. “Is it Republic Day or Independence Day on Thursday,” Jaitley questioned indicating that the RO’s move was deliberate.
Jaitley, however, said he has asked that the applications for permission should not be processed because it is now too late to advertise Modi’s events. However, the RO claimed that besides the option for an alternative site, permission for other programmes of Modi, including the meeting with intellectuals and the Ganga pujan, had been granted, but “they are deliberately making an issue out of it”.
AAP’s chief Arvind Kejriwal, one of Modi’s challengers in Varanasi, and AAP leader Ashutosh took a dig at the BJP saying the party never sat on a dharna for the people of Varanasi and that the party was copying their style by resorting to staging dharnas.