BJP hails thousands of autos for poster campaign

Local auto-rickshaw unions, lead by Sanjay Chawla, also pledged support to BJP at the state party office and said they would now carry BJP posters.

Auto rickshaw drivers, he claimed, were upset with the way AAP had treated them and that the party had gone back on its promises to them.

The AAP has been running a mobile poster campaign portraying a direct contest between Arvind Kejriwal and Jagdish Mukhi.

Chawla claimed to have mobilised 31,000 auto-rickshaw drivers and organised a rally at Burari while he was with the AAP. He said despite having worked for the AAP for two years, none of their demands had been addressed. “AAP volunteers would not treat us well despite the fact that we were instrumental in spreading their message. When we approached the BJP, they promised to address our demands,” Chawla said.

The unions had mainly three demands — more auto stands in Delhi, relaxing provisions of the act which allows heavy challans on autos in case they flout rules and giving full amount of the pre-paid service to the drivers.

“We put forth these demands and met the Commissioner of Police, who promised us that these demands would be met. We also put forth demands before Delhi government officials for a single-window clearance for our badge numbers, which normally requires us to go to at least four counters. They have assured us that this too would be done,” Chawla said.

BJP state in-charge Prabhat Jha claimed “AAP leaders made false promises” to auto drivers. “The Delhi BJP will include the issues of auto and taxi operators and the party’s commitment to solve these problems in the election manifesto,” Jha said.