Amid elaborate preparations by the Bharatiya Janata Party for Narendra Modi's maiden rally in the capital on Sunday after being nominated its prime ministerial candidate, the party accused the Sheila Dikshit government of indulging in disruptive tactics.
"The rally, 'Badlenge Dilli, Badlenge Bharat' (Change Delhi, Change India), would leave a big impact and be a stepping stone for the upcoming Delhi elections.
"It would highlight all the issues plaguing the city which has been turned into a slum by the Congress government as half of the city's population doesn't have any basic amenities," Delhi BJP President Vijay Goel said at a press conference.
The Delhi BJP leaders put up a united front on the eve of the rally with Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly V K Malhotra, former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta, former Mayor Arti Mehra, senior BJP leader Vijay Jolly joining Goel at the press meet.
Goel accused the Delhi government of trying to disrupt the rally by ordering the public works department to remove banners, hoardings and billboards from various places in the city. "Even the police have been involved in it and some of our activists were arrested for putting up posters," Goel said, adding, "When there is a rally by Congress leaders, why no such actions are taken. We protest such moves."
The BJP has deployed over 1,000 volunteers to manage the arrangements at the venue, Japanese Park, for medical aid, drinking water and other facilities.
Goel said Delhi's problems during the last 15 years of Congress "misrule" like unauthorised colonies, shortage of water and power and problems of villages would be depicted on 20 LED screens, that have been put up there.
The party has made arrangements for buses and cars, with separate parking facilities, and put up signages for people to reach the venue. Apart from it, the BJP has asked for special facilities from the Delhi Metro to ensure those coming to rally don't have to face problem.
"To handle the crowd, the Delhi Metro, which generally runs with 50 per cent train strength, would be running all its rake on Dishad Garden-Rithla route. Also the frequency of trains has been reduced from five minutes to 3-3.5 minutes. For the first time, metro would be selling group return tickets," Gupta said.
All the feeder buses would be deployed to carry people from metro station to the venue and vice versa, the BJP leader said.
When the rally would end, the Metro would make five trains ready for departure at the station for fast movement of crowd, he said.
Addressing the media, Malhotra said that large number of people including diplomats, politicians, cutting across the party lines, would be participating in the rally. He alleged that the Sheila Dikshit government has been misusing public money on advertisement, despite a Lokayukta order to recover money spend on advertisements during last elections.
The senior BJP leader attacked the Aam Aadmi Party, without naming it, saying those who have engaged in unethical practices should not speak about the morality and stop spreading misinformation about BJP and its leaders.
Attacking the United Progressive Alliance government, he said just like Rahul Gandhi said that the ordinance on convicted lawmakers was a "nonsense" and it should be torn and thrown away, this "corrupt" government should also be discarded.
