PM Modi to kickstart BJP’s Delhi poll campaign at mega rally – india news

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to kick off BJP’s Delhi poll campaign at the city’s Ramlila Maidan, the very spot from where the Congress launched a blistering attack on the BJP and the PM last week.

The rally comes on the heels of widespread protests over the amended citizenship law that grants protection to non-Muslims who escaped to India fearing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

In a statement, senior BJP leader Vijay Goel said the rally is being organised to thank the Prime Minister for giving ownership rights to 40 lakh residents of 1,731 unauthorised colonies.

A total of 11 lakh signatures by residents of unauthorised colonies will be handed over to Modi as a thank you gesture, he said. Goel, the convenor of arrangements at the venue, said more than two lakh people are expected to attend the rally which will be dominated by youths and women.

Cutouts of PM Modi, BJP president and Home Minister Amit Shah and Working President J P Nadda have been put up around Ramlila Maidan.

“This rally will also symbolise that after winning seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the BJP is in full-swing in preparations for the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections as well,” Goel said.

The BJP has majorly focused on unauthorised colonies in this rally because this will become a big issue in the upcoming Delhi elections. A tableau of unauthorised colony has been installed too.

The AAP, the ruling party in national capital, was the early mover when it formally launched its campaign with ‘Acchhe beete paanch saal, lage raho Kejriwal’ slogan on Friday.

The Delhi polls are set to be held early next year.

The AAP had officially kickstarted its poll campaign in July, weeks after the Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP won all seven seats in Delhi and the AAP was pushed to third position in terms of vote share by the Congress.