Prime Minister Modi to have last laugh in UP campaign
VARANASI: With the SP-Congress alliance keenly watching, the BJP has planned a mega Narendra Modi rally in Varanasi now on March 6, the last day of campaigning during the Uttar Pradesh elections.
Modi will hold two public meetings on March 5 in Jaunpur and Mirzapur in areas going to the polls in the last phase. The three rallies have been advanced from the original schedule by a couple of days apiece to ensure the message from the PM stays fresh in the mind of the voters when the ballot is cast on March 8. There will, however, be no road show by the PM in Varanasi as proposed earlier. Varanasi is the PM’s parliamentary constituency.
Keeping an eye on the BJP plans for Varanasi, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance has also postponed the Rahul Gandhi-Akhilesh Yadav road show that was scheduled in Varanasi for February 27. A joint road show of the two leaders will instead take place in Gorakhpur on Monday. The last day of campaigning in Varanasi is on March 6.
“We have to match up with Modi’s plan in Varanasi. The Varanasi road show of the alliance leaders could happen on March 5 or 6. We would like to have the last chance to rebut what the PM says,” a Congress leader said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Sonia Gandhi are not slated to come to Varanasi.
There is a plan in the works that the prime minister may also pay obesiance at the Kashi Vishwanath temple during his Varanasi visit. BJP leaders feel the Kashi Vishwanath temple visit by PM would be “especially auspicious” for the party, especially as Congress President Sonia Gandhi could not make it to the much-revered temple last August as she fell ill mid-way during her road show in Varanasi.
“You can see how the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh has derailed ever since and now they had to ally with the Samajwadi Party,” the senior BJP leader said. BJP has shifted its campaign headquarters to Varanasi recently.
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