BJP banks on star appeal

However, the stars had little to say at the meetings. The cliche-ridden speeches at best blamed the Congress for all ills in the country and exhorted the people to vote for BJP candidates so that Atal Behari Vajpayee is made PM.

But they did manage to pull crowds, which was all that the party expected from them. As a BJP general secretary put it, “People are attracted to the stars and hence gather in large numbers at the rallies, thus contributing to their success.” Thiswas evident from the rally organised at the Radio Club where Sinha addressed a 1,000-odd crowd. The gathering largely constituted those who sought to be entertained by their hero rather than hear a political discourse. Even the hour-and-a-half delay in Sinha’s arrival was forgiven as the star dribbled out dialogues like, “Congress ek daayan hai jisne atharah mahine mein do sarkare khayeen (Congress is a witch who has gobbled up two governments in 18 months).”

Vinod Khanna, who campaigned for the BJP in the north-east constituency, also managed to draw a sizeable crowd to the rally. A party spokesperson said, “Only Sinha is a seasoned politician. As he has been politically active for quite some time and has addressed public rallies earlier, he knows how to woo the voters. He is also well aware about the Indian economy and the national political scene.”

The BJP’s Vinod Tawde said though Gautami had only recently announced her association with the BJP and hardly campaigned outside South, sheimmediately struck a chord with the largely Telugu-speaking residents of Kannamwar Nagar, Vikhroli (E) by addressing the gathering in Telugu. However, the television artistes expected to enthrall audience at two rallies disappointed the party. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Anu Kapoor, Pallavi Joshi and Grusha Kapoor failed to turn up at both the meetings.