Delhi Assembly poll: BJP to start ‘Parivartan Yatra’, Gahlot to play key role

The BJP on Saturday said it will take out a ‘Parivartan Yatra’ in Delhi to dethrone the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Assembly election due in February next year.

Former AAP leader and Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, who switched over to the BJP on November 18, has been inducted into the party’s manifesto and poll coordination committees. A source in the BJP said Mr. Gahlot is likely to be a key face of the drive.

Though BJP leaders did not disclose the campaign schedule, the party said it had formed a nine-member panel to prepare a strategy for the same. “Currently, we are in the planning stage. We will take up issues plaguing Delhi during the yatra,” said Satish Upadhyay, a former Delhi BJP chief and the panel head.

The move came a day after AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal announced a massive outreach drive, under which the ruling party workers will interact with the voters through thousands of meetings.

The third main player in the city, the Congress, started its foot march — ‘Delhi Nyay Yatra’ — on November 8. Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said the BJP has been “rattled by the tremendous success” of his party’s outreach programme.

Reacting to it, the Delhi Congress claimed that the BJP has been “rattled by the tremendous success” of its public outreach programme.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said the top leadership of the BJP has asked its Delhi unit leaders to plan the yatra to evade people’s queries that they would have faced in direct interaction with them.

“When people suffered BJP leaders remained quiet, turning a blind eye to the corruption, incompetence and inaction of the AAP government,” he alleged, claiming that the BJP’s yatra would turn out to be a “flop show”.

Published - November 24, 2024 12:32 am IST