10k corner meets, roadshows, rallies: BJP’s agenda till voting

MCD election: Party workers said BJP president JP Nadda held a meeting with state unit leaders, MPs and MLAs on Monday to discuss the preparations and manifesto for the elections scheduled for December 4.

A day after leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held 14 roadshows in the national capital, the party is planning to hold nearly 10,000 corner meetings apart from roadshows and rallies led by senior leaders, including union home minister Amit Shah, in the run up to the municipal elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda greets as he arrives to hold a meeting to review the preparations for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. (ANI Photo)

Party workers said BJP president JP Nadda held a meeting with state unit leaders, MPs and MLAs on Monday to discuss the preparations and manifesto for the elections scheduled for December 4.

With less than two weeks to go, the party is amping up its campaign, president of BJP’s Delhi unit Adesh Guptasaid, adding, “Our roadshows have got a good response and we plan to continue with them. But we are also planning nearly 10,000 corner meetings in order to reach out to people in all residential neighbourhoods, and organising meetings with communities and various sections of the society.”

Party workers said the BJP is planning to organise 5,000 (of the 10,000) corner meetings with only women voters. While 125 of the 250 municipal wards are reserved for women, the BJP has fielded 136 women candidates in these elections in an attempt to garner their support. “We have started holding meetings with women in residential areas. We are also holding meetings with Anganwadi and ASHA workers,” Gupta said.

The BJP is also planning more roadshows and public meetings led by senior leaders. Gupta said that Union home minister Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP president JP Nadda and other senior leaders will address public meetings and hold roadshows in the coming days.

Nadda on Monday attended a programme organised by leaders of the BJP Delhi unit’s Purvanchal wing and said, “With the blessings of Purvanchal residents, we will uproot the dishonest and corrupt Kejriwal government from Delhi.In the upcoming elections, the BJP will once again come to serve the people of Delhi in the MCD with the support of the Purvanchal residents.”

The BJP president and party’s national general secretary-organisation, BL Santhosh, also held a meeting at state unit headquarters to discuss the preparations for the municipal polls. From Wednesday, the party is going to start meetings with the trading community, which is considered BJP’s support base, to discuss their issues related to the municipal corporation and ensure ease of doing business. Senior BJP leaders said that the party’s manifesto is likely to have major announcements for the business community. “There are issues related to licensing, property tax etc, which we plan to address in our manifesto. There will be major announcements for the community,” said a senior leader.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, however, claimed that a BJP councillor would only hinder MCD’s work. He tweeted, “This time, AAP is winning in MCD, and Kejriwal is forming the government in MCD as well. If by chance a BJP councillor wins a seat, (s)he will only abuse Kejriwal and hinder the work of that area. That’s why it is necessary for all of Delhi--Kejriwal’s government, Kejriwal’s councillor.”

On Sunday, the national capital was the stage for heavy duty rallies, with the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) kicking off their campaigns.

A host of senior BJP leaders and chief ministers took out rallies and roadshows on Sunday, in a bid to drum up support for the party, which governed the city’s municipal bodies for three straight terms. The party saw campaigns by BJP chief JP Nadda, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jitendra Singh and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, as well as his Haryana and Uttarakhand counterparts, Manohar Lal Khattar and Pushkar Singh Dhami.

In turn, AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who earlier on Sunday tweeted that the BJP was “going to attack Delhi”, launched his party’s campaign in the race to the Civic Centre with the slogan “Sarkar Kejriwal Ki, Parshad Kejriwal Ka”.

Votes in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls will be counted on December 7, bringing an end to a tempestuous few months for the civic body. Elections to the erstwhile three civic bodies were delayed earlier this year after the Centre decided to unify the municipality and redraw the wards.

The AAP, which is hoping to wrest control of the civic body, has labelled the move a delay tactic intent on keeping Delhi’s ruling party from securing victory in the elections. The BJP, however, has said the move was essential civic reform to fix the body’s flagging finances.