Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is expecting more than one lakh people from Punjab to participate in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc's rally in Delhi on Sunday, said a senior party leader on Saturday.
The opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc will hold a 'Maharally' at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on March 31 to "safeguard" the country's interests and democracy, the AAP had earlier said.
The rally was announced after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.
From Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, cabinet ministers and MLAs will participate in the rally.
Meanwhile, several Punjab ministers, including Harpal Singh Cheema, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Aman Arora, Lal Chand Kataruchak, and MLA Kulwant Singh reached Delhi and met Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal.
AAP Punjab state unit working president Budh Ram said, "We have set a target of 1.25 lakh people from Punjab to participate in the protest."
All the MLAs had held outreach programmes in their respective Assembly constituencies to ensure maximum participation of people in the rally. Party workers were deputed to mobilise people for the Sunday rally.
"People are angry against the arrest of Kejriwal ji which is the handiwork of the Modi government and they are eager to participate in the rally," Ram said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is afraid of Kejriwal because the AAP leader has set an example in the field of education and health in Delhi. Neither the central government nor the BJP government of any state has been able to do such a thing. That is why Kejriwal has been arrested without any proof and it is all under a conspiracy," he alleged.
"The way opposition leaders are being arrested continuously in the country. They are being targeted through agencies. The way an elected chief minister was picked up and put in jail on the basis of mere allegations and no evidence.
"It is a systematic attempt to crush democracy. Against this, people of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc are coming to Ramlila Maidan from all over the country on Sunday," he said.
Ram, who is the MLA from Budhlada, said that most people from the state are reaching Delhi by train. Many people will also go using their personal vehicles, he further said.
AAP Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang, who has reached the national capital, asked people to reach Ramlila Maidan in a large number to register their protest against the "autocratic" government as he targeted the BJP-led Centre.
"To save democracy in India, all the Constitution-loving forces are gathering in the historic Ramlila Maidan of Delhi, the birthplace of @AamAadmiParty. We request all the lovers of our great nation to attend in large numbers at 10 am on Sunday," said Kang.
Sitting along with Khemkaran MLA Sarvan Singh and Dharamkot MLA Devinderjit Singh Laddi Dhose at Ramlila Maidan, Kang claimed it would be a "historic" protest by the INDIA bloc.
He also slammed the Centre, accusing it of trapping AAP convenor Kejirwal in a "false" case in order to keep him away from poll campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.