Congress, BJP step up campaigning in Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, April 17

With polling for the Lok Sabha elections just a day away, both the BJP and the Congress have stepped up campaigning in the city.

To assess the ground situation and plan further course of action, the city BJP today held a meeting of its 30-member executive and 300 office-bearers. President Jatinder Pal Malhotra and Lok Sabha candidate Sanjay Tandon were also present.

Area report was sought from presidents and general secretaries of district units, morchas and mandals of the party. They were asked to explain issues in their respective areas and voters’ mood. After taking the feedback, the meeting discussed how to go ahead with the campaigning. The party leaders were also told not to focus on resignations of office-bearers of other parties and fight elections as planned instead.

Later in the day, Malhotra and Tandon attended a meeting with shopkeepers of the grain market, Sector 26, and farmers of the UT villages at the residence of Gian Chand Gupta, Speaker, Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

Besides, Tandon participated in various “jagrans” held on the eve of Ram Navami as well as several “bhandaras” organised across the city today.

Jagrans were organised in Sectors 24, 41-A and Raipur Khurd while bhandaras were held in Sector 26, grain market and Sector 21.

The BJP candidate highlighted the party’s contribution to the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. “This time, Ramnavami has a special significance for the devotees of Ram as after 500 years, lakhs of devotees will celebrate the birth anniversary for the first time at his birthplace.”

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate, Manish Tewari, today held a meeting with the representatives of 22 villages at the party office in Sector 35. Addressing the gathering, Tewari said, “The common man in the country is suffering a lot because of the widespread unemployment and back-breaking inflation. While the income is dwindling, the prices of all essential commodities are increasing. The Congress, during the UPA rule, had brought several people-friendly schemes such as the Food Security Act, MGNREGA and the direct transfer of subsidies to beneficiaries.”

He also attended a series of functions in the city to mark the Ramnavami celebrations. Besides, he has started holding back-to-back meetings with party leaders and various public bodies. He kicked off his campaign by paying obeisance at Mata Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.

Shukla to visit city today

Chandigarh Congress in charge Rajeev Shukla will be in the city on Thursday. He will hold a meeting with party leaders to discuss poll preparations and take feedback about the current situation.

Running multifarious campaign

We are running a multifarious campaign on the social media, with strategy partners, various morchas and BJP office-bearers. As many as 100 programmes are lined up for next 15 days at the party level. — Sanjay Tandon, BJP

Focusing on mass contact

We are doing a mass contact programme. It involves interacting with groups of people and holding meetings with party men to chalk out a strategy. As the poll momentum grows, we are going to intensify our canavassing. — Manish Tewari, Congress

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