Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday said a "conspiracy" was hatched by the Opposition to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi from addressing a rally in Punjab and noted that it has manifold strengthened the resolve of his party workers in the state.
Ahead of assembly polls, several leaders from Punjab including former Congress MLA Arvind Khanna, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Gurdeep Singh Gosha, and former Amritsar councillor Dharamveer Sarin joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday in the presence of Shekhawat and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at the party office in the national capital.
Shekhawat, who is BJP's election in-charge of Punjab, rejected claims by a section of Congress leaders that there was thin crowd at Ferozepur for the rally which was to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Ferozepur was going to witness the highest ever turnout at any political rally in Punjab. It was overwhelming that people were coming to participate in Prime Miniter's rally despite adverse weather conditions," he said.
He alleged collusion of police during a protest on road which led to the Prime Minister's convoy getting stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes last week on his way to Hussainiwala to visit National Martyr's Memorial in Ferozepur district. A decision was then taken to return to Bhatinda airport.
"Prime Minister was to dedicate several welfare projects for Punjab. But a dark chapter has definitely been written in the democratic history of India. One thing is for sure, the incident has only strengthened the resolve of the BJP workers to work hard before the elections for briging the party to power. The way people are joining the BJP, it is clear that people find Punjab's future with BJP," he added.
Punjab will go to the polls on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10. BJP is fighting the polls in alllaince with Punjab Lok Congress and SAD (Sanyukt).
( With inputs from ANI )
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