BJP’s Sharma hits drawing rooms to draw out the voters

Newsline caught up with Sharma during one such meeting at Vijay Nagar in North Delhi.

As his supporters prepared the ‘stage’ while singing his praises,Sharma sat quietly in meditation on the sofa. He took centrestage as soon as they were done: he first asked each person’s name,then pointed out the familiar faces in crowd and asked about their health and family.

“Prem-ji remembers names of most of party workers even if he had met them several years ago,” said Vishal Tripathi.

Then began the political rhetoric: “I am not a politician. Politics is one of the ways of serving the nation but not the only way. I came to contest only due to the special circumstances.”

Almost casually,as if in passing,he brought up the topic of his erstwhile opponent Jagdish Tytler’s exit from the poll arena. It’s two days since Tytler was pulled out by the Congress,and Sharma left no opportunity to score some brownies. “It seems as if he left from the backdoor,hiding his face. But we should not take the situation lightly.” Then,one of his one-liners: “Be united as a wall and ready for the call.”

He told the gathering that he is “not scared” of any candidate the Congress puts up against him. One party worker chipped in saying the BJP would be better positioned if Congress picks one of its MLAs or a Muslim candidate. But the octogenarian ignored the comment and continued with his tirade for a “united,pre-Partition Hindustan”.

Depending on the crowd,Sharma switched between English,Hindi and Punjabi,and made it a point to hammer home his identity as a RSS worker and his links with VHP.

According to Sharma,he has already held 120 meetings in Northeast Delhi. He said his day begins at 9 am and continues till 11 pm. “I travel nearly 100 kilometres each day,” he said. And then went on to voice some more pro-Hindutva speeches.