The BJP, screaming hoarse over price rise, inflation and the suffering of the aam aadmi, will press into action helicopters, a vanity van, expert make-up artists and crores of rupees worth of electronic gadgets to make the first rally of the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr Narendra Modi, in Delhi a grand success on Sunday. While Mr Modi is expected to make his “grand entry” in a copter near the venue at Japanese Park in Rohini with a capacity to hold at least three lakh people, his commandos from Gujarat will swoop down in another helicopter. If that’s not enough, the saffron organisers have taken the event virtually to a bizarre level by keeping a “vanity van” packed with make-up kits and make-up artists ready to brighten up the faces of the saffron speakers before they address the rally. Expert make-up artists will provide deft touches to the leaders to make them look like “stars” as they exhort Delhiites to vote for the BJP. An imposing 100-foot-tall cutout of Mr Modi has been put up at the entrance of the rally ground. “After the rally, Delhi will be Modified,” the BJP claims. BJP chief Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and BJP patriarch L.K. Advani are not expected to participate in Mr Modi’s attempt to woo voters in Delhi. “Since the rally is mainly for Delhi and local leaders, Mr Advani and Ms Swaraj have not been invited while Mr Singh would be out of the national capital,” a BJP functionary said. Despite the razzmatazz, infighting continues to plague the Delhi BJP. The party feels that projecting Mr Vijay Goel as the chief ministerial candidate would be like “committing hara-kiri”. Mr Goel, however, is now trying to “woo Modi to get a favourable verdict”, sources said. For the Modi “blitzkrieg”, 20 LED screens, an audio system costing crores of rupees and CCTV cameras have been put up around the venue to make Delhi hear the “roar of the lion”. In addition to the 20 LED screens around the venue, the BJP will also put up at least 17 LED screens airing Mr Modi’s speech live across the city. Some of the banners put up across the city exhort Delhiites to converge at the rally ground to listen to “Bharat ma ka sher (Mother India’s lion)”. The theme of Mr Modi’s rally is “Badlenge Dilli, badlenge Bharat (Will change Delhi, will change India)”. Invitations have been sent to diplomats, leaders, RWAs and the minority community. However, the Modi brigade did not invite Pakistani diplomats after the militant attacks in Jammu on Thursday. For the rally, the authorities concerned have decided to run special Metro trains. The Metro authorities are expected to run all available trains on the Dilshad Garden-Rithala route. The frequency of the trains has been reduced from five minutes to three minutes. For the first time, the Metro will sell group return tickets. Feeder buses have been pressed into service to ferry people from the Metro station to the venue. The BJP said that it has deployed nearly 1,000 volunteers to manage the crowd. The party expects a gathering of at least five lakh people. Medical aid, drinking water and other facilities will be provided by the party.
