After inaugurating Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to his election campaigning mode in Gujarat, as he is scheduled to address a rally in Morbi on Wednesday.
PM Modi has actively started campaigning for the upcoming Assembly elections 2017 for his party in Gujarat. He has been conducting meetings for his campaign in Saurashtra- Kutch that also includes Rajkot.
On the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday, PM Modi shall reach Rajkot from Hyderabad. Special Protection Group (SPG) has been posted from Rajkot airport to circuit house to ensure the safety and security of the Prime Minister.
More than 30 officers that include SPG commandos had already come to the city two days in advance, as a part of the security arrangements for PM during his stay in Rajkot Circuit house.
For 10 hours, a makeshift Prime Minister Office (PMO) has been created in the circuit house in Rajkot, where facilities of hotline and internet have been specially provided for the smooth functioning of the campaign.
PM Modi will leave for Morbi between 9 am-10 am on Wednesday, followed by another public meeting in Veraval at 11 am. He will go to Palitana from Veraval after 1 pm, post which he shall move to Navsari to address public meetings.
PM Modi kick-started his party campaign on Monday, by holding public meetings in Bhuj in Kutch, in Jasdan and Dhari in the region of Saurashtra and in Kadodara in Surat.
On 29th November, he will have rallies in three other places in Saurashtra will be in Morbi, Palitana, and Gir-Somnath in Saurashtra. He is primarily campaigning for the candidates, who will be contesting in the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly Elections.
Interestingly, this time BJP has tried a different strategy to woo the crowd to join the promotional rally in Morbi. They plan to invite a Bollywood singers to attract the crowd. Morbi has a high concentration of Patels and forms 14 per cent of Gujarat’s population.
Also, most of the people in Morbi are into the business of ceramic tiles which has been highly affected due to GST as it attracts the highest slab of 28% GST.
This has angered the people of Morbi, and there is a likelihood that BJP will see a major hit to their vote bank from Morbi. This rally has been planned for voters of Tankara, Wankaner, Halvad constituencies.
Coincidentally, Hardik Patel too has planned a rally in Morbi.
Surprisingly, the scale of the audience in PM’s public meeting on Monday was too low and has been a concern for the BJP Party.
Jasdan saw only 6,000 people in the PM rally against an expectation of 50,000. PMs campaign in Bhuj and Kamrej was a direct attack on Congress. Modi used that Congress ‘teas-seller’ comment against them by stating that the party is anti-poor and disliked him as he came from a humble background.
People are also questioning, the reason why PM Modi would need to conduct a rally in Morbi, especially when BJP has always had a strong hold over Morbi seats.
A cleanliness campaign is in full swing in Morbi and around 700 Police officials have been called in to ensure safety during PM’s rally. Bhupendra Yadav who is the in-charge for BJP for Gujarat Assembly elections, and Manusukh Mandviya, MoS, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, visited Morbi to take stock of the arrangements for the rally.
To ensure that Modi’s rally draws a crowd, Bollywood singers, Hansraj Hans, and Rocky Mittal are likely to perform.