INDIA heavyweights set to 'punch' BJP tomorrow

New Delhi: Top INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav among others will attend a 'maharally' to be held by the AAP at the Ramlila Maidan on March 31, senior party leader Gopal Rai said on Friday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has received the permission of the authorities concerned to hold the rally for an attendance of more than 20,000 people. It is being held in the backdrop of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, he said.

Other prominent political leaders and members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) like TMC's Derek O'Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, NC's Farooq Abdullah and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren of JMM will also attend the rally, he said.

Kalpana Soren, the wife of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who is currently in jail, will also attend the rally, he said. The party leaders said they are also in touch with PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who may join the rally.

According to the party's senior leadership, they are planning a show of strength at the Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, from where they may launch a massive campaign against the ruling BJP government for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Rai said after Kejriwal's arrest, the party has held multiple protests across Delhi. They noticed two kinds of law and order on road -- the Delhi police easily gives permissions to hold protests to the BJP but the opposition is not allowed for that, he said, and added that all this is happening when the model code of conduct of the Election Commission is in force.

The AAP finally managed to get permission to hold the rally. It has also given some undertakings to the Delhi Police, the sources said. The AAP has

made a three-tier plan to motivate the people to come to the rally. First the meetings were held at the Vidhan Sabha level, then all the 2600 polling stations level and now a door-to-door campaign has started.

"We are going door-to-door to distribute invitation letters and urging people to come to Ramlila Maidan and raise their voices peacefully against democracy and dictatorship," he said.