With stakes high for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, scheduled on June 1, the party is all set to launch its blistering campaign on May 20. According to senior BJP leaders, the party has received tentative availability of its star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, defence minister Rajnath Singh and party’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda.
The party is readying its schedule for the rallies, especially those to be addressed by the PM who is likely to hold four rallies by the last week of campaigning.
The party is likely to start massive rallies from May 20 with one to be addressed by Shah, who is likely to address five rallies in the state.
Interestingly, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar had on Thursday written a letter to the Uttar Pradesh CM, urging him to address three rallies in Ludhiana, Batala and Jalandhar. “We are getting huge demand from grassroots workers to have your rallies in Punjab. This is because of your working style of running the UP government that your popularity in Punjab is very high,” Jakhar said, offering Yogi a night halt in Ludhiana.
On Wednesday, Jakhar, in an exclusive interview to HT, said he was getting requests from people for having Yogi for rallies in Punjab because they hail him for wiping out gangsters and anti-social elements from his state.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday, Jakhar, in an exclusive interview to HT, said he was getting requests from people for having Yogi for rallies in Punjab because they hail him for wiping out gangsters and anti-social elements from his state.
{{/usCountry}}Since the party is contesting Lok Sabha polls alone for the first time since 1996, Punjab is high on BJP’s agenda and many senior state party leaders claim that Modi often terms Punjab as a “special case” where the BJP has the capability to flourish its base.
In an interview to a private channel on Wednesday, the PM said he held Sikhs in high esteem and had resolved the issues concerning the Sikh community.
According to Jakhar, preparations are underway to chalk out rally venues. “We will rope in full might in the last week of campaigning in Punjab and this has been BJP’s strength everywhere,” Jakhar added.
The BJP has already named 40 personalities for its Punjab campaign list that includes Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, BJP’s Punjab president Sunil Jakhar, former state chief Ashwani Sharma, Harjit Grewal, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Vijay Sampla, Manpreet Badal, Saudan Singh, Tarun Chugh, Smriti Irani, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hardeep Puri, Som Parkash, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh, Vijay Rupani, Narinder Singh Raina, Capt Amarinder Singh, ML Khattar, Manoranjan Kalia and Charanjit Singh Atwal among others.