BJP does a Kejriwal, woos auto drivers

Posters carrying slogan Aurton ke prati badhte apradh ke liye zimmedar kaun? along with the BJP election symbol will be seen on several three-wheelers plying on the city roads.

After Aam Aadmi Party, now the city BJP has decided to use autorickshaws for its election campaign.

The party on Monday flagged off several three-wheelers with posters highlighting the ‘failures of the Delhi government’.

While the initiative might seem like a replica of the AAP initiative, which drew the ire of the Dikshit government, city BJP president Vijay Goel justified the move.

“A majority of three-wheeler drivers are already with the Bharatiya Janata Party. If we didn’t put up posters earlier, it does not mean that we are copying anybody. Everybody has the right to put up posters and hoardings,” he said.

Goel also promised the autorickshaw drivers that the party will provide study material to their children free of cost, whether their ward is studying in class 1 or preparing for civil services exam.

Earlier, several autorickshaw drivers under the banner of Bharatiya Private Transport Mazdoor Mahasangh and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh went to the BJP office on Pant Marg with their vehicles having party posters on them.

Though the union president Rajendra Soni said they would campaign for the saffron party through their autorickshaws, he also made a point that they would not hesitate to put up posters of Congress party, if the state government agrees to their outstanding demands.

“One of our major demands is to remove the sections of Motor Vehicles Act under which the traffic police impound our vehicles. Whichever party honours our demand, we will support it,” said Soni.