Online campaign for Modi rally launched

The BJP on Wednesday launched the online registration campaign for attracting netizens to a rally which will be addressed by party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Bangalore on November 17. 

According to an office-bearer of the BJP IT cell, as many as 65,000 requests were received till October 29 for registering online for the campaign. Considering the huge response, the party is making a conservative estimate of no less than 50 per cent of the applicants attending the rally.

The online registration is being done on the party’s Karnataka website. As per the current format, any netizen can log onto the party website and register name, address, phone number and email ID for receiving a confirmation e-mail and an SMS on cellphone.

 Once the confirmation SMS or e-mail is received, the netizen can walk to the counter on the day of the rally, show the same and pay the ‘voluntary’ fee of Rs 10 to enter the venue. As on late Wednesday evening, the BJP claimed, over 3,800 people have registered since its launch at 4 pm.

The party will also embark on a three-day mobilisation drive from November 7 to 9 across the State. As many as 35 teams are being formed to hold district-level meetings and attract people to the rally.

Earlier in the day, BJP State president Prahlad Joshi inspected the Palace Grounds, venue of the rally. He told reporters that the party will write to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police seeking adequate security for Modi. Former minister R Ashoka said a memorandum seeking permission to conduct the rally in Bangalore was submitted personally to the chief minister four days ago.

Marriage dole

Speaking after inaugurating the online registration campaign, Joshi termed as vote bank politics the ‘Shaadi’ scheme under which a Rs 50,000 marriage dole is given to Muslim girls. The scheme should be extended to women from all religions and communities, he added.