Admn proposes fresh date for rally, BJP wants undertaking

After the BJP protested against the manner in which the administration cancelled a party rally featuring LK Advani and Varun Gandhi in Agra on Sunday, the authorities have now offered September 29 as a fresh date for the rally. The BJP camp is, however, insisting that the administration should give a written undertaking that it won’t cancel the rally just as it did for the party’s Sunday show after having cleared it several weeks ago.

A Varun Gandhi aide said the officials were still not willing to commit themselves and hence the BJP so far hasn’t agreed to any fresh date. Agra divisional commissioner Pradip Bhatnagar and senior district officials late Friday held a meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including local MP Ram Shankar Katheria. The officials hinted that there would not be any problems in holding a BJP rally in Akola, 18 kilometres from Agra, on the fresh date. District magistrate Zuhair Bin Saghir and senior police officials had earlier informed the BJP leaders that the Sunday rally was being cancelled due to a couple of reasons, including the communal flare-up in Muzaffarnagar. The BJP camp claims that the cancellation was more because the government was aware that lakhs of people were set to attend the rally.

Varun Gandhi said: “They have banned the rally citing threat to my life. That’s surprising because I had never been apprised of it. It’s very clear that the rally has been cancelled more due to the groundswell of support for it than due to any security reasons.” “I dare the government that irrespective of how many rallies it bans, the people of the state would teach it a befitting lesson in the polls,” Gandhi said. The BJP legislators might also raise the issue in the forthcoming assembly session.