CAMPAIGNING FOR the civic poll in the city came to a halt at 5 pm on Sunday. All the political parties and independent candidates went all out to garner support on the last day of the campaigning.
Candidates of various political parties, accompanied by comic poets, musicians, rickshaw pullers, band masters, camels, and elephants took out processions in different parts of the city. Laughter Challenge star Ehsaan Qureshi campaigned for Congress mayoral candidate Manzoor Ahmed, while national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Vinay Katiyar campaigned for party’s mayoral candidate Dinesh Sharma.
Traffic at Charbagh, Pandariba, Hussanganj, Chitwapur, Daliganj crossing, and Nishatganj came to stand still several times during the day due to public meetings held by various candidates.
Addressing a meeting in support of Dinesh Sharma at Raja Bazar, Vinay Katiyar criticized the Mulayam government for creating a reign of terror in the State. “Where are the industries claimed by Mulayam? In fact the existing ones are shutting down due to rising crime graph and patronage of the Samajwadi Party ministers to criminals,” he said. Aligarh, Mau and Lucknow witnessed riots due to government’s appeasement policy, he added.
Katiyar came down heavily on Congressmen for seeking pardon for Afzal Guru. “The BJP brought development to the city and would continue to serve the masses in future too,” he said. Katiyar also addressed meetings at Balu Adda, and Aminabad crossing. Meanwhile, former mayor of Lucknow SC Rai too appealed to people to support Dinesh Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}Katiyar came down heavily on Congressmen for seeking pardon for Afzal Guru. “The BJP brought development to the city and would continue to serve the masses in future too,” he said. Katiyar also addressed meetings at Balu Adda, and Aminabad crossing. Meanwhile, former mayor of Lucknow SC Rai too appealed to people to support Dinesh Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}Ehsaan Qureshi, in his familiar style, appealed to voters at Chowk crossing to vote for Congress candidate Manzoor Ahmed. The meeting was addressed by Central Minister for Steel Akhilesh Das, who asked the voters to bring the party back to power after 17 years of exile. Veteran Congress leader Jagdambika Pal addressed meetings in Faizullahganj, Jankipuram and Madiaon.
Badrinath Agnihotri, candidate of the All India Loktantrik Congress, took out a rickshaw procession for safe and environment friendly Lucknow. He condemned various political parties for using plastic material during the campaigning.
The procession that started from Vidhan Bhavan covered the areas of Kaiserbagh, Aminabad, Shriram Riad, Charbagh, Alambagh, Talkatora Road, Nakkhas, Medical College, Daliganj crossing, Purania, Aliganj, Kapoorthala, Mahanagar, Indira Nagar, and Gomti Nagar. SP candidate Madhu Gupta too campaigned in various wards of the city.