Bharatiya Janata Party is planning a huge welcome for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit likely next week in Chennai where he is likely to flag off Vande Bharat Express among other developmental programmes, sources said on Friday.

Prime Minister is likely to visit Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai where he will inaugurate the new terminal of Chennai Airport, flag off the Vande Bharat Train and attend an event of the Ramakrishna Mission, sources said. The BJP is planning a massive welcome in which over 30,000 people are expected to line up the streets to welcome the Prime Minister upon his arrival.

State president Annamalai who is also the co-in-charge of poll-bound Karnataka has been supervising all the arrangements.

“We are also speaking to the concerned authorities if we can arrange for a public meeting/meeting where the PM can address the party workers while he is here in Chennai,” a state office bearer told ANI talking about the party’s plans of arranging a public meeting.
“PM Modi is the biggest face for the BJP as the saffron party looks to make inroads down South, especially in Tamil Nadu,” he added.

Recently, the nomination of noted music maestro Ilayaraja to Rajya Sabha, is an interesting indication in that direction.

PM Modi had spoken about the Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam during the 99th edition of ‘Mann ki Baat’, his monthly radio programme.

As a part of the exchange programme between Tamil Nadu and PM Modi’s home state Gujarat- the Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam is slated to take place between April 17 – April 26 this year in Somnath.

As per historians, in 1024, Mohamed Ghazni raided the Kathiawar neighbourhood of Somnath. People fled to various parts of the country including southern India. The people, essentially weavers stayed in Madurai and worked on silk robes for the royal families in Madurai under Thirumalai Naicker, the King of Madurai from 1623 till 1669. They settled in Trichy, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Salem, etc to name a few locations for over four centuries. This has been one of the biggest connections between the two Indian states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

Notable personalities from Saurashtra in Tamil Nadu include Carnatic Music composer Venkataramana Bhagavathar, freedom fighter NMR Subbaraman called Madurai Gandhi, and actor Vennira Aadai Nirmala to name a few.

As per the data available, out of 12 lakh Saurashtrian citizens settled in Tamil Nadu, more than half reside in Madurai alone. The rest are spread across Chennai, Salem, Thanjavur, and Tirunelveli to name a few.