The failure of organisers to mobilise the targeted crowd at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parivarthana Yatra rally in Bengaluru on Thursday has exposed chinks in its city unit’s armour, and this has reportedly upset party national president Amit Shah.
During the run-up to the convention held to mark the launch of the 75-day yatra, a few prominent leaders had claimed that the party expected a huge turnout of about three lakh persons. But the actual turnout was more moderate and the leaders were embarrassed as several rows of chairs remained empty at the convention. About 35,000 two-wheelers were part of the rally, as against the expected 60,000.
According to those privy to the developments, the party is “not unduly worried” about the low turnout, but is more concerned about “one-upmanship” among prominent city leaders, which is believed to have resulted in the embarrassing situation. Party insiders allege that a few city leaders wanted to hog the limelight by claiming credit for the show of strength. Angered by this, the other leaders did not cooperate in organising the event, leading to the situation.
Mr. Shah is said to be disturbed over the lapse and is said to have issued strict instructions to ensure that one-upmanship does not come in the way of organisational work. However, party leaders maintain that they had never set a target of mobilising three lakh persons and the figure was only proclaimed by a few overenthusiastic leaders before the media. They also admit that the decision to involve bikers for the rally brought down the count. Though a sizeable number of bikers came near the rally venue, some of them skipped the speeches. “The bikers were mostly those below 40 years, who were not serious about listening to speeches, so they stayed away from the venue,” a senior leader observed. He added that the numbers could have been slightly better if participants in some districts were not prevented from attending the rally. However, it is the one-upmanship among the leaders that the party is seriously worrying about, and a detailed review of the events is likely to be held sometime later to identify the problem, sources said.