Maharastra polls: BJP plans big blast campaign opening

BJP master strategist and national president Amit Shah on Sunday decided on a plan to organize a mammoth 300 public rallies in just two days, in the assembly election campaign in the state. The meetings, along the Gujarat pattern, would be addressed by 53 party stalwarts.

In the Gujarat assembly elections in August last year, the party had organized public rallies in all 183 assembly constituencies simultaneously. The rallies in Maharashtra are planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Shah was following in the footsteps of Pramod Mahajan and Nitin Gadkari, sitting through the day to finalize the election programme.

Besides Sahasrabuddhe, Shah held discussions with party in charge Om Mathur and Vinod Tawde and also met with Rashtriya Samaj Party leader Mahadev Jankar. Among the leaders who will address the rallies are union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, Radha Mohan Singh, Uma Bharati, Kailash Mishra, Santosh Gangwar and cricketer-turned-politician Navjyot Singh Sidhu.

The party's state president Devendra Fadnavis, leader of the opposition in the assembly Eknath Khadse, leader of the opposition in the legislative council Vinod Tavde would also address the rallies. The party has assigned particular districts to each of these leaders and will hold 5-6 rallies in and around the district in select constituencies during the two days.

Party spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the programme for 300 rallies over two days was titled "Mulukh Maidan", which is associated with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj era when Adil Shah of Vijapur used the Mulukh Maidan canon to wind up the war.

Bhandari said the Mulukh Maidan campaign conveyed a similar message that once the leaders were in the field, the BJP would march to victory.

Modi march

Prime minister Narendra Modi will address his first rally in the Maharashtra assembly elections in Beed on October 4. He is scheduled to address more than 20 rallies in ten days. The party is also exploring the possibility of using state of the art technology for "Chai pe Charcha' kind of events in the campaign.