NaMo fever gripped the holy city of Varanasi on Thursday as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will address the Vijay Shankhnad rally at Khazuri Raja Talab here on Friday.
Meanwhile, all arrangements put in place by the BJP leadership to make the rally a grand success. A huge turnout of people from rural areas are expected to attend the rally at the venue situated on the outskirts of the city.
Senior BJP leaders, including party in-charge of UP affairs Amit Shah, state chief laxmikant Bajpai and many others visited the venue and reviewed the preparations where hectic work was going on to complete the arrangements by Friday’s morning.
Besides, security personnel intensified their arrangements Several senior police officers from Gujarat are camping here to keep a watch on all security arrangements. After the Patna incident, security personnel are in no in mood to leave any security lapse.
On the other hand, party workers launched their last-ditch attempt to mobilise people to make the proposed rally a grand success. They were contacting tea vendors, rickshaw-pullers and even took out a procession. Processions were taken out in different parts of the city awash with NaMo colours.
All entry points of the city from adjoining districts were inundated with banners and posters and party leaders were trying hard to draw the attentions of senior party leaders as dozens of bigwigs are in the city in view of proposed rally.
Meanwhile, a group of BJP workers under the leadership of city chief of Antodya cell Anup Jaiswal offered dugdabhishek with 51 litres of milk at Ganga seeking blessings to help Modi become the next Prime Minister. The meeting was presided over by Munna Rastogi while Rajkumar Yadav proposed the vote of thanks. Prominent among those who attended the meeting included corporator Narsingh Das, Dilip Tulasyani, Om Prakash Yadav, Indresh, Dipak, Kanhaiya Seth and Sripat Mishra.
A group of party workers under the banner of literature and Publication Avam Prakashan Cell organised a yagya at Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya and prayed the Almighty to make the rally of Modi a grand success. The yagya was conducted under the guidance of Nandita Shastri who was accompanied by about 150 girl students. later, state convener Meena Choubey, regional convener Ashok Chaurasia, state deputy chief Dr Uttam Oja and others addressed the meeting and expressed hope that under the leadership of Modi, the country would make giant strides on the path of development and prosperity and fight unflinchingly against corruption, price-rise and terrorism. Important among those who were also present were Santosh Sharma, Manoj Kumar Singh ‘Mayank’, Amit Rai, Urmila Rastogi, Manju Singh, Alok Kumar and Madhu Kapoor.
Meanwhile, the itinerary of Narendra Modi has been changed due to security reasons on the request of the district administration.
State BJP president laxmi Kant Bajpai said that Modi would visit the Sankatmochan and Vishwanath temples before the rally. District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav said that in the letter sent by Gujarat government it was said that Modi would visit the two temples after the rally. “We have requested Modi through a letter not to visit Vishwanath and Sankat Mochan temples on Friday as per schedule given by Gujrat government,” the DM said. “The Varanasi city has narrow lanes, nearly three lakh people are expected to visit the city on Friday causing a lot of rush. Being Friday, when Juma namaz is offered due to which security deployment would be needed, making it a difficult task for the police”, he said.
As per the revised schedule by the administration, Modi would first visit Sankatmochan temple and then Vishwanath temple and after offering prayers, he would go to Khajuri ground to address the rally.