BJP’s laddoo drive to thank Delhi residents off to a damp start

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari’s call to distribute laddoos in every household as a mark of thanks for cooperating with the ongoing demonetisation drive announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has elicited a meek response from the party leadership and workers.

A day after Tiwari’s announcement, laddoos were distributed to families only at a few places in Mehrauli, Kamla Nagar and Rajinder Nagar areas on Wednesday.

Party sources said the RSS and senior party functionaries were not in favour of the idea mooted by Tiwari as it was never discussed at the party level before an announcement was made. “There is a difference of opinion among party leaders on the issue. The topic of laddoo distribution was not discussed at an appropriate forum and the general feeling is that the move may backfire because people are still standing in queues for withdrawing money,” said a source.

The RSS too, sources said, had asked the BJP to wait till December 31 and assess the situation before undertaking any such move.

On Tuesday, Tiwari had urged his partymen to greet people of Delhi, who patiently queued up outside banks or ATMs to withdraw money or exchange old notes in support of demonetisation, with laddoos.

Tiwari had also announced that party workers will take public feedback on demonetisation when they go to give laddoos to city residents. “People have extended their support and cooperation for demonetisation. They deserve appreciation from us. We will visit their houses to express our gratitude and to seek feedback on banning of old currency notes,” he said.

Sources added that several state party leaders were clueless about Tiwari’s move till Wednesday evening. “No formal communication was sent to party functionaries in this regard. The announcement was made before the media only. Several of us did not have any information on this,” said a party leader.

He added that the party leadership should wait till the situation in banks and ATMs normalised. “Any decision to celebrate demonetisation should be taken after December 31. Till then, we should continue with awareness campaigns to make people aware of online banking and to ramp up support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision of note banning. If required, the celebration should be held after the deadline for exchanging old notes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tiwari also released a video message in which he thanked the people of Delhi for bearing inconvenience during exchange of demonetised currency notes.