BJP to hold 100 public meetings in a day

The Bharatiya Janata Party has put up around 52 senior leaders, including president Rajnath Singh and state chief minister Narendra Modi, to address more than 100 public meetings across Gujarat on Tuesday.

Both the BJP and the Congress will be using hi-tech methods for campaigning in the state. The Congress will use 26 Parivartan Raths whereas the BJP will move around 50 Video Raths in the entire state for the next three weeks.

The ruling BJP's 52 senior leaders will address more than 100 public meetings covering the 87 constituencies that go to polls in the first phase on December 11, including Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat region.

Modi will address three meetings in these three regions.

The BJP, making a head start in election campaigning, will send a massive saffron force of 29 central leaders and 23 state leaders to all the major constituencies going for polls in the first phase.

"The BJP will set a new record of holding nearly 100 public meetings in a day at the launch of the one-to-one contact programme before the assembly elections,'' BJP Spokesperson Yamal Vyas said.

The central leaders include party president Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Om Mathur, Gopinath Munde, Rajiv Pratap Rudy. State leaders are headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, state president Purshottam Rupala and all the cabinet ministers.

Vyas said these 52 leaders have been divided into 25 teams with a well-maintained balance of local and central leadership to make whirlwind tours of the entire Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat region.

"During the campaign, these leaders will propagate the party's motto Jeetega Gujarat. Their speeches will concentrate on the achievements of the BJP government in its five-year rule in Gujarat, leadership qualities of Modi and failures of the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre," Vyas said.

Besides this, the Congress and the BJP have decided to take campaigning for the assembly elections to a new high by introducing vans equipped with television screens and projectors across the state.

Both parties will also use social networking sites like YouTube and Orkut as well as television advertisements to woo voters.