Fifth time in row,Rajnath cancels Lucknow visit

Since it was going to be his first visit after taking over as party president,party workers had planned a grand welcome and to bring him in a cavalcade from Amausi airport to the party’s state headquarters.

Hoardings with welcome messages had already been erected on the route. Orders for flowers and garlands had been placed.

On June 2,Rajnath was to court arrest in Lucknow as part of the party’s Jail Bharo Andolan against alleged corruption and misrule of the UPA government. Sources said senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi had also expressed his wish to lead the protest in Lucknow. Both Rajnath and Joshi are said to be keen to contest from Lucknow in the next Lok Sabha election. With Rajnath’s visit being cancelled,party spokesperson Manoj Mishra said now “senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi will lead the protest in Lucknow on June 2.”

After replacing former national president Nitin Gadkari on January 22,Rajnath was set to first visit to Lucknow on February 5. Grand preparations were made for his welcome with over 1,000 vehicles engaged for the welcome procession and hundreds of hoardings were erected from airport to Nirala Nagar where Rajnath was scheduled to address party workers. The visit was cancelled at the last moment because of inclement weather. However,Rajnath Singh visited Kumbh Mela in Allahabad the very next day to take a holy dip at Sangam.

Rajnath’s next Lucknow visit was rescheduled on February 23 but this time it was cancelled because of the death of 37 kumbh pilgrims in a stampede at Allahabad railway station.

On April 22,Rajnath Singh was supposed to lead dharna on the issues of farmers. But this visit was cancelled because of his pre-occupation with the Karnataka Assembly election campaign.

While Rajnath’s Lucknow visits get cancelled every time,he had toured various parts of the state in the meantime. These included Allahabad,his Lok Sabha constituency Ghaziabad,Varanasi and Kanpur. Rajnath also addressed a farmers rally in Saharanpur on April 12 and the Swabhiman Rally in Bareilly on May 1. Rajnath was in Gorakhpur on Saturday to unveil the statue of former MP Mahant Digvijaynath and attend a dinner hosted by local MP Yogi Adityanath at the Gorakhnath temple.