Gen VK Singh shows up at PM Modi’s roadshow in Ghaziabad

Gen Singh won the Ghaziabad seat in 2014 and repeated a win in 2019. However, this time, he has been sidelined with the BJP giving ticket to sitting MLA Atul Garg

Ghaziabad: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow was held in Ghaziabad on Saturday, sitting Ghaziabad MP Gen VK Singh (retired) made his first public appearance in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

On Saturday, Gen Singh cheered the crowd during the PM’s roadshow and greeted the public from the open vehicle on Ambedkar Road in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

In the present poll campaign, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath conducted an intellectuals meet in Ghaziabad on March 27, followed by election rally of defence minister Rajnath Singh on April 3 and even during the arrival of UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on April 1. But Gen Singh was not seen at any of these poll events.

Gen Singh won the Ghaziabad seat in 2014 and repeated a win in 2019. However, this time, he was sidelined with the BJP giving ticket to sitting MLA Atul Garg.

On Saturday, Gen Singh, however, cheered the crowd on Ambedkar Road during the roadshow, and greeted the public from the open vehicle.

“Gen Singh is a senior party leader and the party has assigned him other important works. So, he could not make his presence during the past campaigns,” said state minister Sunil Sharma, a sitting BJP MLA from Sahibabad.

HT tried to contact Gen Singh’s office but there was no response.

For the roadshow, the public started coming from the afternoon itself to have a Modi’s glimpse and chanted “Modi hai to Mumkin hai,” “Jai Shri Ram,” “Modi, Yogi zindabad”.

The road was lined up with big hoardings of Modi’s pictures and slogans.

The roadshow had started in the evening from the Maliwara Chowk amid vedic chants and dance and cultural displays from different small stages constructed alongside the road.

Several paintings were installed at various points on the route, including the one of his late mother Hiraben blessing him, while a tableaux of Lord Rama and Sita was also displayed.

People were delighted to have a glimpse of the Prime Minister.

“I was eagerly waiting to get a glimpse of Modi ji. I think the BJP candidate has a chance to win and the roadshow will help in converting indecisive voters to come out and vote for BJP. People were happy to see Gen Singh but to me he seemed a bit off though he was part of the roadshow. It may be because he was denied a ticket after he worked so hard,” said Rajneesh Bansal, a trader from Turab Nagar market adjacent to Ambedkar Road.

Some pointed out their difficulty to commute as major roads and transport options were inaccessible due to security arrangements.

“Common man suffered the entire day due to diversions put up by the police. A rally would have been an ideal option rather than closing a major city road. Even small shop owners in the vicinity were asked to shut down. It is difficult to understand that one is trying to garner votes while the common man suffers,” said Jitendra Kumar, a resident of Raj Nagar.

The Congress candidate from the Ghaziabad constituency Dolly Sharma, meanwhile, said that her newly-opened election office remained non-functional due to security arrangements for the PM’s roadshow.

UP Congress chief Ajay Rai had inaugurated the office on the Ambedkar Road on Friday.

“Our party workers could not reach us as the movement was restricted. It seemed that it was not a level playing field when a party is holding and campaigning in the form of a roadshow while the other party was unable to conduct daily works. A day lost mean a lot in elections,” Sharma said.

“We have got in touch with the Congress leaders about the issue and things were sorted. There was also an issue where they mentioned a different address of their election office and opened it at a different address,” said Gyananjay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (city).