In support of his successor, despite his two terms from the constituency coming to an end, former Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan made his presence felt at the grand roadshow held for the nomination filing of BJP candidate Praveen Khandelwal for Chandni Chowk on Friday.
Along with Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Khandelwal started his journey from the ancient Gauri Shankar Temple turning the atmosphere ecstatic as one witnessed conch blowing, drum beating, band playing, and party flags fluttering in the roadshow.
The sitting Chandni Chowk MP said, "The BJP is an organisation-based party, and our organisation works not for individuals but for organisational development, and each candidate is a symbol of the organisation. We will ensure the victory of BJP candidate Khandelwal by ensuring maximum voter turnout on election day."
This support adds a stark contrast to the infighting between the Congress in the national Capital, which is now out in the open with the exit of former Delhi Congress Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely.
Slamming the INDIA Bloc, Goyal said, "The Congress and the AAP abuse each other in Punjab while they have seat-sharing arrangements in other States. The people of Delhi are intelligent enough not to be misled by such tactics," adding that the grand old party is going to be "wiped out" from the entire north India after the ongoing election.
Further, Goyal said the INDIA Bloc of Opposition parties has no vision and blueprint for making the country a world power. "They have nothing to give to the country except fake videos and narratives," he said.
Referring to Khandelwal as a long-time friend, Goyal said he has been actively involved in finding solutions to the problems of traders, micro and small enterprises as well as consumers.
BJP candidate Ramvir Singh Bidhuri also filed his nomination for the South Delhi seat, accompanied by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami. A large number of BJP workers carrying party flags and raising "Jai Shri Ram" and 'Ek baar phir Modi Sarkar' slogans marched along the roadshow of Bidhuri, greeting people from open-top vehicles.
One witnessed people dressed in different traditional attires. While some dressed up in South Indian attire, others wore Uttarakhandi attires in the rally. Prior to filing his nomination, Bidhuri also visited the Gopal Temple located in Prithviraj Market to seek blessings and mark the start of his road show.
Accompanying Bidhuri, Dhami said the BJP's team work is going to repeat history and the saffron party will win all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital. Dhami encouraged the party workers, saying there is no contest against the BJP and their only challenge is the hot weather.
"No matter how high the temperatures are, you have to bring the voters to the polling booths and ensure that the voting percentage does not fall," he said.
Outside the returning officer's office, women workers of the BJP wearing sarees in the party colours danced to the tune of Haryanvi songs. A group of third-gender people also joined Bidhuri's roadshow.
Congress candidate Udit Raj also filed his nomination for North West Delhi constituency. On this occasion, National General Secretary of the Congress and in-charge of Delhi and Haryana Deepak Babaria, and Delhi president of AAP Gopal Rai were present. However, his own party leaders are not happy with his candidature, many of whom protested outside the Delhi Congress office to show their anger against the ticket being given to an 'outsider'.
Additionally, BJP candidate Bansuri Swaraj for New Delhi, Yogendra Chandoliya for reserved North West Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat for West Delhi, Manoj Tiwari for Northeast Delhi and Harshdeep Malhotra for East Delhi have filed their nominations so far.
So far a total of 114 candidates have filed nominations for the polls scheduled on May 25.