With Delhi Chief Minister and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal, holding a rally on 16 October in what has been the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stronghold of Gujarat, tensions are high in the region.
According to a report in The Indian Express, only days before Kejriwal's scheduled rally in Surat on Sunday, several areas in the city are peppered with banners showing Kejriwal's face alongside Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama Bin Laden's, under the title, "Pakistan's Heroes".
Yogesh Jadvani, AAP spokesperson in Surat, claimed that the banners had been put up by BJP workers. "The banners had been put up by BJP workers as they don't want Kejriwal meeting to take place," he told IE. "We have removed eight such banners. We are expecting over one lakh people to attend Kejriwal's public meeting."
On Thursday, AAP also blamed BJP workers for pulling down the party's posters in Surat.
Denying these allegations, Nitin Bhajiyawala, the BJP president in Surat, said that he had asked his party workers not to oppose Kejriwal's visit. He added that he was confident that none of his party-members would take down any posters.
Kejriwal is set to reach Ahmedabad on Friday and stay in Gujarat for the next two days. Besides attending the rally in Surat, he will meet with local businessmen and farmers among other people.
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