MCD polls: Nitish to hold roadshow, address rallies

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will hold a roadshow and address two rallies over the weekend to step up the municipal poll campaign for the Janata Dal (United), 101 of whose candidates are in the fray.
"Nitishji will hold a roadshow in north Delhi'a Burari area which will culminate into a big rally at Burari Grounds on April 8. The next day he will address another rally in Badarpur," JD(U) national general secretary Sanjay Jha said.
The Kumar-led party had fielded 111 candidates and nominations of "10 of them were rejected in the scrutiny".
The JD(U) had initially targeted to fight in about 150 of the 272 seats in the municipal elections slated for April 23.

In Badarpur, the Bihar chief minister will address a rally at Canal Side Ground, near Lohia Pul. Both the venues are locate in areas, which have a sizeable population of people hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The party is banking heavily on the support of Purvanchalis and Kumar's prohibition model in Bihar will dominate the theme of his rallies.

Jha said the campaign has picked up pace with every candidate doing door-to-door canvassing.
He asserted that the people of Delhi will support JD(U) based on what the party has done in Bihar and what it plans to do here.

Purvanchalis, or people hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh settled in Delhi, are considered a major vote bank by all the parties. A sizeable chunk of this community is settled in jhuggi-jhopri and unauthorised colonies.
The party also seeks to reach out to the Sikh community based on the goodwill earned from the community for organising 'Prakash Parv' -- Guru Gobind Singh's 350th anniversary in Patna in January.
"We would also reach out to the Sikh community, give the successful organisation of Guru Gobind Singh's 350th anniversary in Patna, which had turned the Bihar capital into a mini Punjab. Besides, other minorities like Muslims living here, we would also reach out to them," the party said.

Areas like Burari, Jahangirpuri, Uttam Nagar in north Delhi, Sangam Vihar, Okhla in south Delhi and large areas of east Delhi are populated with migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Incidentally, the JD(U) had supported the AAP in the 2015 Assembly elections in 2015. The same year it had stitched 'Grand Alliance' with RJD and Congress for the Bihar Assembly polls, which it swept comprehensively.
The BJP has been ruling the MCD since 2007. The last polls were held in 2012.