Modi, Advani set to send united we stand message in Bhopal today

This is the first function when Modi and Advani will be present on the same stage after their bitter battle over Prime Ministerial candidature

Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leader LK Advani is expected to share the stage along with other top party leaders during the BJP’s “Karyakarta Mahakumbh” (party workers’ rally) on Wednesday.

This is the first public appearance of the two stalwarts after the party patriarch openly opposed and skipped the event where Modi was elevated as the BJP's choice for Prime Minister on September 13. 

Besides Modi and Advani, other prominent BJP leaders who would be coming to attend the rally are Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, BJP national general secretary in-charge Madhya Pradesh Ananth Kumar and BJP vice-president and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti.

 

Madhya Pradesh industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that it would be the world’s biggest political rally and the state BJP has got the opportunity to host the event. 

The Mahakumbh is being held on the 97th birth anniversary of Jan Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya. At least 5,000 buses, 11 special trains and other coaches in other trains have been booked to ferry supporters to the rally on Bhopal’s Jamboree Grounds.

 

A day before the Modi's rally, Congress party general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday alleged that the BJP had got 10,000 burqas stitched for the event and claimed the director of a Bhopal-based real estate firm had paid Rs 42 lakh to the tailor.

“(The company director) personally came to Indore and paid Rs 42 lakh in advance to Zeenat Tailors, who had issued a bill for Rs 44.60 lakh,” Digvijaya said in Indore. He showed the media what he claimed was the bill issued by Zeenat Tailors.

The Congress general secretary further alleged that 10,000 topis (skullcaps) had been ordered from Lucknow. 

The row comes amid a buzz that the BJP has been striving to ensure a sizeable Muslim presence, in burqas and skullcaps, at Modi’s meetings, such as the one in Jaipur this month.

Both Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar denied having asked local leaders to bring Muslims wearing topis or burqas. 

In Delhi, BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also criticised Digvijaya.