Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari to meet, spend a day with Facebook friends

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi has chosen a unique way to test its support base and popularity of northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, who is also the party’s local unit’s chief, on social media.

It is planning a day-long event — Facebook Friends Mahotsav — in which it will invite people across the country and abroad to show support for Tiwari.

A party functionary, who has been entrusted with the responsibility to finalise the plan, said this is an attempt to turn ‘virtual’ support into ‘real’ friendship and it will also help understand the expectation of youth from the party.

“We are expecting around 25, 000 people at the event hence looking for a suitable venue keeping this number in mind. As per the plan, Tiwari will spend a complete day interacting with his Facebook friends. We are not putting any bar on numbers; it will be an open invitation to people. We are hoping that Facebook users from abroad will also attend the function,” said Neelkant Bakshi, in-charge, media relations department, Delhi BJP.

Apart from around eight lakh followers and friends of Tiwari on social media sites, the Facebook page of the party’s Delhi unit has more than 24 lakh followers.

“The idea of organising Facebook Friend Mahotsav is conceived by Tiwari himself. He gets likes for his posts in thousands and lakhs everyday. His updates are shared by thousands. Therefore, he decided to check how many people can turn up if he invites them,” said Bakshi.

The programme is likely to be held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

He further also said the party is also planning to give a memento to attendees. “Nothing has been finalised yet but we may present a copy of our constitution to all invitees. The memento will make their presence memorable. We will also seek their suggestions to make our functioning better in future,” he said.