New Delhi: BJP has started organising nukkad sabhas or corner meetings in various parts of the city that are addressed by national and state-level party functionaries in a bid to intensify its Assembly election campaign.
Senior BJP functionaries said the local issues related to the respective Assembly constituencies are discussed with the electorate, and solutions are suggested in the corner meetings.
They added that while concluding their address, the speakers also mention the alleged irregularities and over-expenditure in the construction of the official residence for the Delhi CM at Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines, where former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lived for more than nine years.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accepted that traditionally BJP organised such public meetings after formal announcements of elections and its candidates. But with AAP candidates and senior functionaries already hitting the ground, it became important for BJP to be seen on the ground. Sachdeva, however, said there was “new enthusiasm” among people, which encouraged BJP to launch the election campaign with corner meetings without declaring the candidates.
“In every election, political parties set their narrative. In this phase of electioneering, BJP is highlighting the basic failures of Kejriwal govt and trying to take this narrative to every household through corner meetings,” the Delhi BJP chief said.
BJP has formed a team, led by former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay, which organises at least one corner meeting every day in each municipal ward. “Between Dec 11 and 17, we conducted 1,812 nukkad sabhas, highlighting the failure of AAP govt,” Upadhyay said. “A dedicated team closely studies the people’s expectations every day through surveys and social media, and our speakers address them. We regularly raise stalled development, pollution, weak healthcare and education systems, waterlogging and drinking water crises in our corner meetings,” he added.
A team of the party’s central observers has also held meetings with district-level office bearers of the party to discuss the names of potential candidates on various assembly seats. Each observer has been given the responsibility of five assembly constituencies. Sources said the observers held multiple meetings with local party workers in each seat before finalising their reports. “The senior leadership of the party would consider the reports submitted by the central observers before finalising the names of the candidates,” a senior party functionary said.
According to a senior Delhi BJP functionary, more than 2,500 applications have been received from ticket aspirants for the 70 assembly seats. While AAP has already announced all 70 candidates and Congress has declared the names of 21, BJP is still busy collecting feedback from workers on the ground. A senior party worker said the first list of candidates is likely to be released by the end of this month.
