Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah called off the twin rallies, scheduled in the Naxal-affected districts of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, at the eleventh hour on Sunday citing ‘technical’ reasons even as the heavy contingent of anti-Naxal forces deployed at the venue played down security concerns.
The BJP chief’s chopper was scheduled to land at ITI ground, Gadchiroli, at 4 p.m., and Chanda Club ground, Chandrapur, at 6 p.m.. Around 5,000 people gathered at Gadchiroli, bracing hot and humid conditions, had to return disappointed. “I had come all the way from my village, which is 40 km away. I wanted to hear Mr. Shah speak and see how he looks, but my two hours of travel is now wasted,” said Gunaji Sontake, a farmer from Wakdi Village in Gadchiroli district.
Senior BJP leader and State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said Mr. Shah’s visits were called off due to technical glitches. “Amit Shahji has informed me the reasons for cancelling the public rallies at the last minute. These are technical reasons and hindrances, which cannot be disclosed at this point,” he told The Hindu.
Mr. Mungantiwar addressed the rally on behalf of Mr. Shah, and said the party chief has promised all assurances to make Gadchiroli a model district if voted back to power at the Centre.
The BJP chief was scheduled to speak to voters in the sensitive Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur constituencies. In Gadchiroli, near 220 of the 930 polling booths have been declared sensitive or hypersensitive owing to left wing extremism. Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur go to polls on April 11. While Gadchiroli is represented by MP Ashok Nete of the BJP, Chandrapur’s sitting MP is Union Minister of State Hansraj Ahir.
Anti-Naxal security personnel on the ground said they were adequately prepared to ward off any threat. Not only were a large number of troops deployed along with seven units of the Deep Search Metal Detector squads, but also the stage was adequately tested for stability and security, and officials of the Food and the Drug Administration (FDA) were posted to check any poisoning of the eatables available on the stage.
“'We don’t know the reasons for the cancellation but are keeping the deployment on standby for now. We had even kept a team from the FDA to secure and test his (Mr. Shah’s) food samples, and were prepared for all eventualities,” Mahendra Pandit, additional SP, Gadchiroli, said.
The district administration said it believed the two rallies were hastily planned and packed into a tight schedule before the polling day. “'This could have easily been a single rally to cover the two districts within a 100 km distance of each other. We are wondering why they were planned in the first place in this rushed manner,” a senior official said.