With Shah, Naidu, BJP to add 'panch' to corporation polls campaign

New Delhi: Fresh from victories in Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday exuded confidence that it will perform well in the Municipal corporation  elections and lashed out at AAP for "wasting" Delhi taxpayers' money on campaigns in Punjab and Goa.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari also sought to allay the apprehensions of the sitting councillors, who may be feeling resentful about the party's decision to field only fresh faces.

"26 of these sitting councillors, who have contributed to the party and served people for years, would be chosen for special roles, maybe for next Delhi Assembly elections," he told reporters at Ramlila Maidan here.

"The civic elections are an opportunity for the people to give their mandate against the government which has neglected the development of Delhi and kept itself busy in its bid for political expansion at the cost of the public exchequer. "I am confident that the people will give a reasonable verdict in the MCD polls," he said.

Seeking to micro-manage its campaign, the party is holding a convention of its polling booth in-charges at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, which the party's chief Amit Shah and Union minister M Vankaiah Naidu are slated to address the crowd.

Over 65,000 BJP booth in-charges, five from each of the 13,372 polling stations in the national capital are estimated to assemble for the event to prepare groundwork for the April 22 civic polls.

The BJP has dubbed the group of five booth in-charges as 'Panch Parmeshwar' with Tiwari, saying these "workers will work like 'panchs' towards getting administrative justice for people".

"The event is not a rally but a convention meant only for booth in-charges, for whom special passes have been made.

Other workers are welcome but will have to come like any other visitor. The idea is to let the party chief convey the strategy to the lower level, so they can execute the plan as desired," Tiwari said.

Citing the victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as a major factor, he said, "At nearly booths, we did not even have a single volunteer, but now we have 'Panch Parmeshwars' coming from all the polling stations."

When asked if these were Muslim-dominated regions, the Delhi BJP President only said, "Our aim is in consonance with the government's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'."

"Muslims would be adequately represented in the election and ticket distribution," he said in response to another question.