With his eyes firmly set on the Assembly polls in November this year, BJP star campaigner and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will address his first political rally in Delhi on September 29 at Japanese Park in Rohini.
This will be Modi’s first pitch in the Capital after being anointed chairman of the national campaign committee of the party. State unit of BJP has galvanized its resources to gather a crowd of around 5 lakh people for Modi’s big political foray in the Capital. The rally is being watched by agog political pundits as it will be Modi’s first brush with his political adversaries and he is expected to be unsparing of the policies of the Manmohan Singh Government.
This is the same venue where AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi had earlier addressed a Youth Congress rally in 2011. Besides, the party is also planning to hold a series of political events across the city on September 25 on the birth anniversary of the late Deen Dayal Upadhayay. Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel on Saturday confirmed that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, along with other senior BJP leaders, will address a rally in Delhi on September 29. According to former BJP president
Dr Harshvardhan, “Modi is the most popular leader and will certainly benefit the party’s poll prospects.” Sources said that Rohini and its vicinity is considered a stronghold of BJP and the party would witness a groundswell. Earlier, Modi had addressed students and faculty of Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in February this year, which was well-received. Delhi BJP leaders are elated after a pre-poll survey conducted by senior leaders and the electronic media predicted significant losses to the Sheila Dikshit Government in the coming Assembly polls.
“September 29 rally will give further fillip to BJP’s poll preparedness. Party has its cadres to launch a door-to-door campaign to reach every household in the city. The party cadres are all charged up. It is the party cadre at the grassroot level which leads the poll campaign in the real sense. Party cadres are the real ground force of BJP,” Goel said.
The party has planned to challenge the Congress on all issues, including water crisis, power tariff, unauthorised colonies, cleaning of the Yamuna and graft. Meanwhile, addressing a meeting at Constitution Club on Saturday, former BJP national president and Delhi election in-charge, Nitin Gadkari, called upon all BJP cadres to expose the misdeeds of the Government.
“The party cadres should focus on door-to-door campaigns; they must reach every home in every mohalla and detail the failures of the Congress Government,” he added. Gadkari said the party is moving in the right direction in Delhi and is all set to wrest power from the corrupt and inept Congress Government.
The meeting was attended by State, district and mandal level office bearers. In addition to BJP legislators and Municipal Councillors, those who attended the meet also included former BJP presidents — Dr Harshavardhan, Vijender Gupta, senior party leader and former Delhi Minister Prof Jagdish Mukhi, BJP national secretaries Shyam Jaju and Aarti Mehra.
Goel stated that the party would soon come out with an alternative agenda that would clearly spell out BJP’s vision for Delhi. “Our key focus is equitable growth, keeping prices under check, providing safety to women, reducing power tariffs by at least 30 per cent and most importantly, providing a people-friendly, sensitive, transparent and effective Government,” Goel added.