BJP’s Purvanchali stars go all out to woo community in Delhi

Purvanchalis refer to people from East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and political parties believe they account for over a sixth of Delhi’s population

Amidst the high-intensity campaigns to woo Purvanchali voters in the Capital, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as member of parliament (MP) Ravi Kishan and northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari addressed public gatherings and roadshows on Saturday, representing the Purvanchali leader-base of the party.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Addressing the public of Delhi for the first time ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, actor-turned politicial Kishan held meetings at Chhatarpur, Kalkaji and Mehrauli to support the BJP candidates from these areas. The party has fielded Kartar Singh Tanwar, Gajainder Singh, and Ramesh Bidhuri from Chhatarpur, Mehrauli and Kalkaji assembly seats, respectively.

Purvanchalis refer to people from East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and political parties believe they account for over a sixth of Delhi’s population.

Slamming the rival party, the AAP, Kishan called it a party of “fraudsters, liars and dacoits,” adding that Delhi will be finished if BJP is not voted to power. “For over 10 years, they (AAP) lied to the people of Delhi by making false promises such as giving ₹1,000 to women, supplying clean water, and improving drainage, but failed to deliver them. Instead, they have given this city pollution, supplying contaminated water through tankers, and have ruined the Yamuna River,” the Bollywood actor said during his public address at a small ground in Kusumpur Pahari, an unregularised neighbourhood in Mehrauli, having around 14,000 votes, most of them Purvanchalis.

Comparing Delhi with Gorakhpur -- where he is an MP currently -- he said, “With ₹40,000 crore worth development work in the past five years, Gorakhpur has been transformed into a heaven and looks like Mumbai. It is all because BJP’s top leaders like PM Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath are not liars and frauds like them (AAP).”

At the Chhatarpur rally, Kishan said, “...The betrayal with Purvanchalis in Delhi and the lollipops of flash promises they are making will end when BJP will come to power in Delhi.”

Before concluding his speech, the Gorakhpur MP announced that he will ensure voters from the constituencies take VIP-style holy dip at Kumbh in Prayagraj if the BJP is voted to power.

Meanwhile, northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, during a rally in RK Puram constituency, said it was unfortunate that despite Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister in 2014, the responsibility of Delhi’s governance was taken away by other parties. Tiwari was campaigning for BJP’s RK Puram candidate, Anil Kumar.

“This time, BJP has made a big promise of welfare scheme, such as ₹2,500 allowance to every poor woman in Delhi through Mahila Samrithi Yojan if we form the government, just like in Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,” Tiwari said.

Further, Tiwari also blamed the AAP to be dishonest. “AAP is busy telling more lies. But Modi has delivered on every promise. We said we will bring Ramlalla, it was built. We had said that we will remove 370 from Jammu Kashmir, and we removed it,” he said.

Tiwari also rallied in several other parts of Delhi, appealing for votes from the Purvanchali voters.

The party has also roped in ground-level workers from the region to influence a sizeable section of eastern UP voters in Delhi. Former BJP MP from UP’s Basti, Harish Dwivedi, is leading a team of party officials from Purvanchal who are campaigning in 27 assembly segments from east UP.

Further, members of the Mahila Morcha of the party are also campaigning in New Delhi for respective party candidates.

BL Santosh, national secretary (organisation) of the BJP, has been tasked with the responsibility of deploying a team of BJP leaders in various assembly segments of Delhi. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who belongs to Gorakhpur, has already started addressing public meetings in the national capital for BJP candidates.