JULY 23- BJP on Monday began the offline registration of participants for the public meeting to be addressed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad on August 11.
The online registration, being done by collecting Rs.5 from each participant, began about a week ago, state BJP unit president G. Kishan Reddy said.
He took exception to the criticism being levelled by Union Minister Manish Tewari and other Congress leaders against the party’s move to collect Rs.5 from participants.
“There is a debate on collecting five rupees. Congress leaders are sore over the growing popularity of Narendra Modi. Congress needs to understand that small donations used to be collected even when Mahatma Gandhiji and Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan. We are doing this to help the victims of Uttarakhand rains and to make the youth a part of this service initiative,” Reddy said.
Objecting to the remarks of Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed that some terror outfits were formed after Gujarat riots, he asked whether terrorism did not exist prior to 2002.
“Was Congress not in power both in Maharashtra and Centre when the 1993 Bombay blasts took place? Did Rajiv Gandhi die of terrorism or not? Narendra Modi was not there then. Why are you trying to mislead people? Why are you trying to distort history? You are a failure on tackling terror,” he said.
Reddy said there has been an overwhelming response to Modi’s public meeting and that they are trying to accommodate people at the venue as per its capacity.
The party had earlier planned to mobilise about one lakh people for the rally but did not give out any exact figures.
The ‘registration’ fee had sparked a slug-fest between the Congress and the BJP last week after Tewari sarcastically said that the Rs.5 fee showed the “true value” of Modi.
Sharpening his attack on the BJP strongman, Tewari had further said, “BJP’s listening Tax Rs.5 maybe market discovery price. What would be speaking Tax imposed on 1.2 billion? monetising democracy/pure fascism!”
To which, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu hit back and said that Congress was rattled by the popularity of Modi.
“They are not able to digest the growing popularity of Narendra Modi. That’s why they are making such allegations.
They are trying to hit below the belt,” Naidu had told reporters in Hyderabad.
INDIA TODAY
