MCD election: Amit Shah is among BJP's over 60 star campaigners
Aiming to return to power in the MCD for the fourth time in a row, Delhi BJP has drawn up a list of over 60 star campaigners, including party's national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah, party leaders said on Wednesday.
Several leaders have already given their consent to join the campaign that will pick up after road shows in all 14 districts on November 20, they said, adding each road show will be at least 1.5 km long.
Union Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Kiren Rijiju and Anurag Thakur are also expected to campaign for polls to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The list will be issued soon after receiving approval from the national leadership, they said.
The party has also planned 250 small meetings in different parts of the city to reach out to non-Hindi speaking people from southern states, Odisha, West Bengal and North East among others, a senior Delhi BJP leader said.
"They have a sizeable population in large pockets across the city, including RK Puram, CR Park, Satya Niketan and Munirka in South Delhi," another Delhi BJP leader associated with the MCD poll campaigning said.
The campaign will begin, sometime around November 21-23, after a party meeting which will be headed by Nadda and Amit Shah, he said.
The party has sought approval from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma among others to include their names, the party leaders said.
The BJP, the AAP and the Congress are the main contenders in the fray.
The BJP was helming the MCD since 2007. The civic body was trifurcated in 2012 and reunified earlier this year by the party-ruled government at the Centre.
In the last elections, the BJP had won 181 of the 270 wards on which voting was held. The AAP had won 48 wards and Congress 30.
Voting for the MCD's 250 wards will be held on December 4. Results will be announced after counting of votes on December 7.
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