BJP banks on Sunny, Nadda and Anurag
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday released its list of star campaigners for the upcoming Delhi polls, featuring Bollywood star Sunny Deol and party’s biggest crowd-puller Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Apart from Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, defence minister Rajnath Singh, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and ABVP’S general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh are among 40 star campaigners of the party.
Some of the inclusions are very tactical like that of Union minister Smriti Irani. Her ability to flawlessly converse in Bengali can be used by the party during its campaign amid a sizeable Bengali community in the national capital. Santosh’s southern origin is expected to be used in areas like Karol Bagh and Mayur Vihar where there is a sizable presence of south Indians.
Similarly, Manoj Tiwari, who is not just Delhi BJP chief, but a popular Bhojpuri singer and actor along with Ravi Kishen, are there to woo the significant Purvanchali voters who hail from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Tiwari’s popularity transcended the Bhojpuri industry when he sang ‘Jiya Ho Bihar Ke Lala Jiya Tu Haazar Sala’ in popular Bollywood movie ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. BJP wishes to milk this to the hilt.
Sunny Deol, the BJP MP known for his “ye dhai kilo ka haath” dialogue that many expected from him during Lok Sabha campaign in Punjab’s Gurdaspur, is also included in the list. So is yesteryear’s star Hema Malini, who is a BJP MP from Mathura.
Then there is a “pahadi” community that has made Delhi their home for long. While BJP’S new president Nadda is being projected as their own man, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur, his protégé, former Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Anurag Thakur will be called in.
All seven BJP MPS from Delhi will be extensively campaigning in constituencies that fall under their Lok Sabha jurisdiction.