By IANS
Bhopal : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will address a rally in Bhopal Sunday that is expected to set the tone for her Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) campaign ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh later this year.
After its victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in May 2007, the party has been in an upbeat mood and eyeing more and more states. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh it has been mobilizing people from all communities, especially upper castes, through community-based conventions.
Preparations for the rally at the Lal Parade ground were in full swing Saturday with the enthusiastic party workers painting the state capital blue – the party’s preferred colour.
They put up party flags along main streets and Mayawati’s large cut-outs at all major crossings while supporters started arriving for the rally Friday night.
City walls have been painted with slogans like “UP to hamari hai, ab MP ki bari hai” (Uttar Pradesh is already ours, now we will conquer Madhya Pradesh).
BSP leaders here claim that while a number of people from various communities have already consented to join them, many others – including those supporting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, are in touch with them.
BSP state president Bhujbal Singh Ahirwar, however, refused to divulge who would be joining them at the rally Sunday.
“A lot of people from different communities and political parties are in touch with us but we will not name anyone at this point,” Ahirwar told IANS.
“The rally will prove that the BSP will be in a position to form the next government in the state,” he asserted.
BSP has two out of 230 legislators in Madhya Pradesh.
While political observers see the rally as a bugle-blowing for the state assembly polls slated by November, party leaders say it is just a part of a series of rallies being addressed by Mayawati all over the country.
The party expects a gathering of more than 100,000 people at the rally. Its district presidents have been given the task of leading huge rallies from their respective places and join the main rally at Bhopal. The rallies from other places would arrive in trains, buses and private four-wheelers.