Most of the 50 boxes, containing money for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘Modi-for-PM’ fund, that were missing following Narendra Modi’s Meerut rally have been found, according to the party. It did not say how much money was collected during the prime ministerial candidate’s rally on Sunday or if money was missing.
“Most donation boxes have been found. Only five to seven boxes are untraceable,” said Suresh Jain, president of Meerut BJP. BJP workers had placed 50 collection boxes across the venue at Shatabdi Nagar in Meerut to collect donation for the ‘Modi-for-PM fund. The fund attempts to get donations for Modi ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Seeking ‘One Vote, One Note,’ the party is asking people to donate money ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000 from 10 crore households across the country. However, party workers failed to locate any boxes after the rally ended. It appears that BJP workers attending the rally returned home not just with Modi’s message, but also with the money collected for him. “People had been putting money in the boxes since morning until the arrival of Modiji and party president Rajnath Singh,” said a BJP worker who did not wish to be identified.
Before Modi’s arrival at the venue, BJP’s Uttar Pradesh president Laxmikant Bajpai had been making repeated announcements, asking people to donate and put the money in the collection boxes placed across the venue. Nearly 3 lakh people from 14 parliamentary constituencies had turned up at the rally, and the BJP wanted to ensure that a maximum number of attendees donated.
BJP workers had been deployed to ensure safety of these collection boxes.
The workers had to be diverted for crowd management once the senior leaders started their address. “While managing the crowd, some party workers left the boxes unattended, and these went missing,” said a BJP leader.
Row over permission for chopper landing
Kolkata: A day ahead of Narendra Modi’s public rally here, BJP on Tuesday alleged permission was denied for landing his helicopter at the Race Course ground in the city under a “conspiracy” by the Centre, but within hours said the defence ministry has allowed it.
