Under fire from AAP for its dig at Arvind Kejriwal's 'gotra', BJP today lined up a number of vaishya (baniya) leaders who joined its ranks with the party claiming that was its answer to AAP's attempt to cause "discord" in society ahead of Delhi Assembly polls.
Former Congress MP and Akhil Bhartiya Vaishya Maha Sammelan President Gireesh Kumar Sanghi and Ram Kailash Gupta, who had contested Delhi Assembly polls on a Congress ticket in 2008, were among those who joined the saffron outfit in the presence of Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal and BJP MP Vijay Goel.
"There was an attempt to trigger caste discord in society, but the joining of these leaders shows that the vaishya community is supporting BJP in a big way," Goel said.
BJP had recently used the term "upadravi gotra" for Kejriwal, but the AAP leader had turned the tables on the party saying it was a slight to the vaishya community, considered to be a BJP vote bank and to which Kejriwal himself belongs.
Locked in a close fight with AAP, BJP is rallying its supporters for an election in which even a few votes could be crucial.
Sanghi, who is from Hyderabad and has represented Andhra Pradesh in Rajya Sabha, said he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
Party General Secretary (Organisation), Ram Lal, also exhorted workers to fan out to each home to ensure that every BJP supporter casts his or her vote. He said that the party will win Delhi elections on the basis of its organisational strength.
"Knock on every door and reach every vote" should be our motto in the next two days, he said.
