Two-time MP Manoj Tiwari filed his nomination from Northeast Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections Wednesday following a boisterous roadshow from Gokulpuri to the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Nand Nagri. The event was attended by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leader Om Prakash Dhankar.
While addressing the crowd, the Bhojpuri filmstar-turned-politician highlighted some of the work he has done for the constituency in the last 10 years. “Sir, the last time you’d come here to inaugurate this office… since then a Metro line has come up… the flyover under which you drove has cut down traffic here by at least two hours,” Tiwari told Singh.
Meanwhile, Singh attacked the Opposition as he expressed confidence in the BJP winning all seven seats in Delhi once again. “During independence, Mahatma Gandhi — our Bapu — said that the Congress must be dismantled but the Congress had not heeded his advice then. I think the people of India shall fulfill this vision of Gandhi ji,” Singh said.
The roadshow covered the roughly 6-km stretch between Gokulpuri and Nand Nagri, going via Maujpur-Babarpur and Durgapuri. Every few hundred metres, party workers stood on wooden stages to throw rose and marigold petals at the passing rally.
Speakers blared Tiwari’s campaign song, ‘Bharat ki badi khushiyon ka ho gaya muhurat hai, teesri baar phir se hume Modi ki zaroorat hai’ and his devotional hit from January ‘Ram ke they, Ram ke hai aur Ram ke rahenge’.
Speaking to the media after filing his nomination, the MP he was grateful that “50,000 people came to support him”.
Attendees of the roadshow agreed that he would win the seat for the third time. “He’s been present in our moments of happiness and sadness… people do take notice of such things. He’s not been an absent MP,” said Sonu Kumar (31),
To his supporters, INDIA bloc candidate from Northeast Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, did not pose a big threat to Tiwari’s chances. “JNU’s politics is different from actual politics,” said Kuldeep Rai (29).