Empty chairs welcome Ram Bilas in Karnal rally

rveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 30

The BJP’s ‘jan vishwas’ rally in the district’s in Kunjpura village turned out to be a poor show, with empty chairs greeting the chief guest, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, on Tuesday.

The rally was organised to mark four years of the BJP government in Haryana.

Pictures and videos of empty chairs at the rally went viral on social media.

A large portion of the “pandal” was empty when Ram Bilas started his speech. Apparently upset, he finished his speech in just 20 minutes.

To make up the numbers in the crowd, children of a government school were forced to sit in the “pandal”.

Earlier, the programme did not start on time, leaving the gathering upset. The scheduled time was 10 am, while Ram Bilas was expected to arrive around 11.30 am, but he came around 2 pm.

PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh was also scheduled to attend the rally, but he did not turn up.

District BJP president Jagmohan Anand blamed Opposition parties for circulating pictures of the event. But later, he cited paddy season and working day as reasons behind the low turnout.

On October 15, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s “padyatra” (foot march) here had also witnessed a low turnout.

During his speech, Ram Bilas the BJP would regain power in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections next year.

“The BJP government has fulfilled almost all promises made during the 2014 elections. The focus is on roads, transparency in recruitment, compensation to farmers on time, enhancement in the MSP of crops, online facility for all necessary services and a transparent transfer policy,” he added.

Later, the minister told the media Sanskrit and Punjabi would be taught from Class VI to X in the next session.