Bad weather hits venue of Advani's rally

Kanpur, Jun 27: The weather has started playing a ploy at the venue of BJP's much publicised rally ''Vijay Sankalp Yatra,'' scheduled to be addressed by party's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani this evening.

According to official sources, Mr Advani has reached the Phoolbagh ground, where as per schedule he would hold the rally around 1700 hrs.

The rally gains more importance as Mr Advani is holding one in Uttar Pradesh after a long gap and that too before the Lok Sabha elections.

However, as per reports, the incessant rainfall lashing the city since morning has sub-merged the ground upto knee-length and created water-logging and traffic jam problems on the roads.

Mammoth posters and hoardings of BJP that have occupied the city, especially near the venue, have also become a matter of controversy.

As per reports, the poster flays the Congress for the shooting inflation and shows Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as vultures.

Earlier, this morning police resorted to lathi-charge upon enraged Congress workers, who attempted to burn Mr Advani in effigy near Collectorate over the controversial poster.

Besides, the posters display Mr Advani as Lord Ram.

It would be the first rally of the BJP leader in UP in recent years, while the earlier one scheduled in Rampur was cancelled due to security reasons.

UNI