New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will address his first rally in Delhi on 1 May — the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a rally in Ayodhya — in a bid to galvanise the faction-ridden local unit ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the national capital.
Shah’s rally will cover the North East and East Delhi Lok Sabha constituencies. Party sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will follow suit, but the schedule for his rallies in Delhi will be decided after 5 May.
Delhi goes to the polls in the sixth phase of the elections on 12 May.
However, the Delhi BJP is already making an effort to put up a united face. It is known to be a divided house, but Friday, it held a special programme at its 14, Pandit Pant Marg office to introduce the candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, retained for the Chandni Chowk constituency, claimed that it has been the practice to bring BJP candidates on a party forum, but many who attended said that this was not the case. A senior leader even claimed that the chasms within the Delhi leadership are too wide to be filled on time.
Songs galore at the event
The BJP’s Friday meet turned out to be a singing competition of sorts as the party’s candidate for North West Delhi, Hans Raj Hans, broke into a song and was helped in his endeavour by his son, who had accompanied him to the BJP headquarters.
Not to be outdone, Delhi BJP chief and its North East Delhi candidate, Manoj Tiwari, also sang in praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Then, on stage, popular Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi joined the party at the event.
Present on the stage were BJP candidates Harsh Vardhan, Manoj Tiwari, Hans Raj Hans, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ramesh Bidhuri and Gautam Gambhir.
Union minister and former Delhi unit chief, Vijay Goel, too was present on the occasion, along with Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju and leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly Vijendra Gupta.
The BJP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in 2014.
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