Mumbai has braced up for a massive public meeting of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on Friday, on the occasion of the party’s 38th Foundation Day.

Around 3,00,000 workers and supporters of the party – from booth level to members of Parliament – are expected to gather at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ground. They will be composed of people from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The massive rally will be addressed by BJP president Amit Shah, who is expected to use this occasion as a launchpad for the 2019 general elections.

Besides Shah, the rally will have in attendance Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP President Raosaheb Danve-Patil and other top functionaries.

The Mumbai Police has already issued a traffic advisory to people asking them to refrain from using some of the major stretches in the city.

“Traffic congestion is likely to occur on approach roads to Western Express Highway and Eastern Express Highway towards BKC. Commuters are advised to avoid SCLR (Santa Cruz Chembur Link Road), Surve Junction on LBS Road, Sion Junction, Dharavi T Junction, Hansbhugra Marg, CST Road, Nehru Road till Ambedkar Junction and Sharadadevi Road as far as possible,” the advisory reads.

The police said JVLR, LBS Road, and Eastern Freeway can be used as alternate routes in Eastern Suburbs while SV Road and Linking Road can be used in Western Suburbs.

The police also asked students appearing for exams and commuters going towards airports/railway stations to plan in advance and travel as per the advisory.

Traffic Guidelines for 06-04-2018 #TrafficUpdate pic.twitter.com/9SKamnEQl6

— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) April 5, 2018

Massive traffic jams were witnessed along the main stretches on the arterial Western Express Highway and around the BKC ground on Thursday when the BJP organised a bike rally after Shah’s arrival in Mumbai.

According to reports, the rally led to traffic jams for five hours for 20 kilometres all the way to up to Borivali.

Around 80,000 booth heads, 26 wings and unit office-bearers, 5,000 village sarpanches, elected members of 97 big and small civic bodies, all MPs and MLAs, district and sub-district heads – who have been entrusted to bring another five-ten representatives each – are in Mumbai.

More than 50,000 buses and vehicles and 28 special trains are being used to ferry the activists from across Maharashtra and other states, at the BKC Grounds, all being supervised by Mumbai party President Ashish Shelar.

Elaborate arrangements have been made at the BKC Grounds with three massive stages, seven marquees for the events and another two marquees for the activists to stay the night.

Provision has been made for their comfortable stay with food packets and water supply during the entire duration of their halt in Mumbai.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted party workers and thanked the people for trusting the party.

Modi, who is only the second leader from the party to have become the Prime Minister, said he would address party workers at 4:30 pm on Friday via the NaMo app.

Besides addressing the party’s 734 district units, Modi will be interacting with BJP workers of five Lok Sabha seats – New Delhi, North East Delhi, Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh), North Central Mumbai and Saran (Bihar).