BJP paints Hyderabad saffron for Advani rally

In its quest to recover lost ground in Andhra Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party has pulled out all stops to make L K Advani's Vijay Sankalp Yatra a success.

A rally, meant to project Advani as the party's prime ministerial candidate, at the sprawling Parade Grounds in the city on Thursday evening is expected to be attended by lakhs of people.

The party has painted the venue as well as a large part of the city saffron and decked it up with the cutouts, banners, flags and festoons of the party and its leaders.

The party machinery has gone all out to mobilise people from all corners of the state and has even hired four special trains and it has also applied hi-tech methods to give a dramatic touch to the event.

One of the novel ideas used for the purpose is the erection of a Lotus shaped lift near the ten feet high main dais and Advani will go up to the stage perched on the lift to make it seem like he is emerging out of the gigantic flower.

The BJP, which has largely been pushed to the sidelines since its debacle in the 2004 elections, has made full use of its resources to make the event a big hit and enthuse its cadres. The party hired the services of a film director to give a filmi touch to arrangements.

A huge saffron lotus with the Parliament building in the middle provides the backdrop to the sprawling stage. Big cutouts of the former prime minister A B Vajpaee and Adavni on the either side have been erected. The cutouts of the leaders including the state BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya have also been put up all over the ground which has been divided in to different sectors with barricades.

In one of the highlights of the program, Advani will administer oath to 10,000 BJP youth workers and 5,000 workers to fight against terrorism. All youth workers wearing saffron T-shirts will be sitting at one place while the women workers wearing the sarees of same colour will be sitting in another place. One thousand lawyers wearing black coats will also take part in the program and vow to work for the victory of the BJP in the next elections.

 Taking a leaf out of the film-star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi's campaign, the rally will also be attended by a 25-member NRI delegation from the United States led by S Sudhakar Reddy. The delegation including Overseas Friends of BJP in USA leader Indrasena Reddy will campaign for the party in the next elections.

In addition to the main stage, seven other stages have also been put up on the either side of the main dais on which the "victims of wrong policies of the government" will sit. They include the kith and kin of farmers and weavers who committed suicide, victims of bomb blasts and families displaced by the Special Economic Zones and land acquisition by the government.  

BJP floor leader in assembly G Kishan Reddy said that the party hopes around five lakh people will attend the rally.