BJP promises ‘new Delhi’ with campaign song, slogan

Party launches campaign for civic polls, first list to be out soon

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formally launched its campaign for the upcoming municipal elections with the party’s State chief Manoj Tiwari releasing a theme song and slogan in the presence of senior leaders on Friday. This was followed by deliberations, which continued till late in the night, on finalising the first list of candidates.

Fresh faces

At a press conference, the Bhojpuri actor-singer unveiled the party’s ad theme of “

Naye Chehre, Nayi Urja, Nayi Udaan…Dilli Maange Kamal Nishaan ” and a song titled “

O Bhaiya, Dekh Bhaiya, Bhajapa Dil Mein...Bhajapa Dilli Mein ”.

The four-minute song, in fact, was recorded overnight at a studio in east Delhi. It has Mr. Tiwari hitting out at the Kejriwal government, without naming it, for making “false” promises to the people and for its allegedly corrupt Ministers. It also includes catchwords and promises including the installation of LED and CCTV cameras, clean roads, water supply to each household, welfare of farmers, nationalism, and eradicating corruption, among others.

Interestingly, it also includes a line from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech — ‘My government is dedicated to the poor.’

The campaign slogan, meanwhile, will be used widely as the party promises “fresh faces” in the three municipal corporations, said BJP leaders.

According to Mr. Tiwari, the party had refrained from indulging in “negativity” in its campaigning. Instead, he said, it focused on improving the lives of people and developing the city. BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said that the Modi government’s schemes for cities “focusses on developing social infrastructure, besides paying attention to building physical infrastructure.”

‘Out-of-the-box ideas’

“Wherever the BJP is ruling in civic bodies, it is working on out-of-the-box methods such as a cattle sanctuary, as was the case with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, the use of sewage for power generation in Nagpur, and the rapid bus transit system in Ahmedabad,” said Mr. Sahasrabuddhe.

According to Mr. Tiwari, there was a “negative atmosphere all around Delhi today”. He alleged that the local populace was of the view that the Kejriwal government “had misused public money for its self interest.”

Deliberations on

“The BJP’s commitment will be to transform Delhi and build a city conforming to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of New India,” he added.

Sources in the party said that deliberations over the party’s first list of candidates began soon after the launch of the campaign. It continued much later into the night with a 19-member unit formed to manage election affairs undertaking the said exercise at the party’s Pant Marg office.

A party insider added that the first list of candidates could be announced late on Friday night or on Saturday.