Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Eye on first-time voters, BJP holds rally at Ramlila Maidan

- HT Correspond­ent htreporter­s@hindustant­imes.com

NEWDELHI: With eye on the youth in the coming general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday held a “Yuva Vijay Sankalp Maharally” at the Ramlila Maidan.

The party is focusing on the youth, especially first-timers, to repeat its performanc­e in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the national capital—bjp had won all seven parliament­ary seats for the first time then.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said that in the coming days, the party will hold several campaigns to connect with the young voter and tell them about the achievemen­ts of the Modi government.

“The Modi government has introduced many schemes for the developmen­t of youth in the country. The purpose of these schemes is to make them job creators instead of job seekers. We have to reach out to people and tell them about these scheme and ensure that the party wins all seven seats once again,” said Tiwari, who is a Lok Sabha member from North East Delhi constituen­cy.

The state unit has started a special campaign—‘mera phela vote, Modi ko’—to reach out to first-time voters.

“We are telling first-time voters why they should vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are training our workers so that they can answer all queries of young voters and tell them in detail about the achievemen­ts of our government at the Centre,” said Sunil Yadav, president of the Delhi BJP’S youth wing.

The rally was attended by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union ministers Vijay Goel, Delhi MPS Meenakshi Lekhi and Parvesh Verma, and other senior party leaders.

Addressing the rally, Chouhan, also the BJP national vicepresid­ent, spoke about the party’s defeat in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections and attacked the Opposition “unity” rally in Kolkata on Saturday.

“We will win at least 27 seats (from Madhya Pradesh), as we did in 2014, out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats, in the coming elections,” said Chouhan. “… strange things happened in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly (elections). BJP’S vote share was more than that of the Congress party, but they won more seats resulting in the formation of a weak government. We could also have formed the government in Madhya Pradesh, but we decided that we will form the government with absolute majority.”

Hitting out the opposition parties, Chouhan said, “Yesterday we saw 22 political parties, who have never co-operated with each other, come together on a single platform... They fear Modi ji’s increasing popularity… These 22 political parties will ruin the future of the country.”

Sunday’s “Maharally” was the fifth of a series of rallies held by the Delhi unit of theparty in the last two months.

PTI reported that Jaibhan Pawaiya, Lok Sabha election co-incharge of Delhi BJP, asked students to sharpen their arguments to face the challenge of being mocked on the slogan of “Achhe Din” by the opponents and counter it with achievemen­ts of the Modi government.

 ?? SUSHIL KUMAR /HT ?? (Above) BJP supporters at the rally in Ramlila Maidan; Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the party would make up for its defeat in the recent polls.
SUSHIL KUMAR /HT (Above) BJP supporters at the rally in Ramlila Maidan; Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the party would make up for its defeat in the recent polls.
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