Campaigning for MCD polls reaches crescendo

New Delhi, Apr 1 (UNI) A few days ahead of the April 5 Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) polls, political activity in Delhi has reached fever pitch with various political parties in the fray intensifying their canvassing.

The civic polls, which are being contested under close scrutiny, are expected to have a bearing on the outcome of the polls to the Delhi Assembly next year.

While the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP plan to intensify their campaigning in the coming few days by fielding a host of senior party leaders and celebrities for the electioneering, other parties in the fray like the Janata Dal (Secular) and Nationalist Congress Party in Delhi have also planned a series of public meetings in the run up to the polls in a bid to boost the prospects of their candidates.

Lined up in the coming two to three days are hundreds of public meetings organised by the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP in every nook and corner of the city, to be addressed by their national leaders, as a "last minute burst" before the campaigning comes to an end.

The Congress has pressed into service senior party leaders like Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, MPs Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and Ajay Maken as well as ministers of the Delhi Cabinet like A K Walia, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Yoganand Shastri to address campaign meetings in several parts of the city in the next couple of days.

Not to be left behind, the BJP, upping the ante for the polls, has decided to utilise services of its national leaders Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Shahnawaz Hussain and Vijay Goel for campaigning in various parts of Delhi.

These senior BJP leaders would address public meetings in several parts of Delhi in the coming days, addressing more than 200 meetings. Further, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, cricketer-politician Navjot Singh Siddhu and Sukhbir Singh Badal would also perform roadshows in Delhi.

Both the Congress and the BJP are upbeat about their chances in the polls to the 272-member MCD House.

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