“Will he [be able to make it on time] or won’t he” was the question that the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party found itself confronting in regard to the presence of its national president Amit Shah on the eve of its “Bhim Mahasangam” programme scheduled at the Ramlila Maidan here.
According to a statement from the party’s national office, Mr. Shah is on a pre-scheduled trip across separate locations, including Tripura, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Maharashtra, till Monday afternoon.
While some insiders from the Delhi unit said they were hopeful that he would come to the Capital to mark his presence at the event, others claimed he had “never accepted the invite in the first place.” Last month, the Delhi BJP unit had said it had planned a blitz of rallies almost every weekend in the Capital in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
The Delhi unit had initially hoped that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be present at the Ramlila Maidan to oversee the preparation of a community khichdi made of ingredients collected from lakhs of SC homes over three months.
Leaders attending the event include, BJP national general secretary (organisation) Dr. Thawar Chand Gehlot and Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju. Several senior leaders will also be part of the function.
‘Positive energy’
The event was intended to “create positive energy” to counter the “negative atmosphere being created by the opposition” as well as to make a world record by preparing 5,000 kg of khichdi in one utensil to feed over 25,000 attendees, said the Delhi unit.
While those hopeful of Mr. Shah attending the event said his attendance was incumbent upon his flight timings. According to the statement from the party’s national office, he was scheduled to inaugurate a party office in Silvassa at 11.30 a.m., followed by a meeting with the party’s core group before flying to Maharashtra where he will participate in party programmes till 6.30 p.m.
On the other hand, multiple insiders citing Mr. Shah’s schedule said the organisers “seemed to have misinterpreted the mere issuance of an invitation to the national president as an acceptance of it.”
