New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to make a final push in the last leg of this Lok Sabha election with as many as 31 rallies in 10 days, including six in West Bengal and eight in Uttar Pradesh.
According to PM Modi’s schedule, between 8 and 17 May, the last day of campaigning before the final phase of polling on 19 May, a total of 31 public meetings across nine states have been planned, said highly-placed sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sources said Modi will hold rallies in Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar to campaign for his party in what has been a feverish bid to be re-elected.
The itinerary, however, shows how the BJP is laying special emphasis on West Bengal — a state where it won merely two seats in 2014 out of 42, but has steadily attempted to penetrate the political landscape, hoping for weighty gains this election.
With 17 constituencies yet to vote in the remaining two phases, West Bengal will witness six Modi rallies, as against eight in Uttar Pradesh which has 27 out of 80 seats left to vote.
In the latter, the BJP did exceptionally well in 2014, winning 71 of the 80 seats alone. But with the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance this time around, the political and electoral landscape of the state has been altered, and the BJP is aware how it needs to outperform its rivals if it wants to have another shot at power.
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The West Bengal factor
On Monday, PM Modi addressed two rallies in West Bengal, during which he alleged that chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) head Mamata Banerjee didn’t respond to his calls before Cyclone Fani hit, and described her as “arrogant”.
West Bengal has been a special focus for the BJP, with party president Amit Shah setting a target of winning 22-25 seats in the state. The BJP hopes for a climb in its tally in West Bengal, along with other states like Odisha as well as the northeastern region, to help compensate for a possible decline elsewhere.
Sources said Modi will address public meetings in Bankura, Purulia, Basirhat, Diamond Harbour, Mathurapur and Dumdum in West Bengal, with four of them concentrated towards the end of the campaign on 15 and 16 May.
Other states
On an average, the PM will address around three to four rallies a day over the next 10 days, with as many as five planned for Thursday, and just two — in Khargaon and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh — slotted for the last day of the campaigning on 17 May. The prime minister has kept this Saturday free of election engagements, said the sources.
In Uttar Pradesh, Modi will hold rallies in Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Prayagraj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Ballia and Mau. The PM’s own constituency, Varanasi, votes on 19 May but will not witness his rally. During his visit to the constituency end of April when he filed his nomination papers, the prime minister held a mega road show and indicated he would not return till the elections were over.
On Wednesday, Modi will address two rallies in Haryana, where the BJP is in power, as well as one in Delhi late evening. Four public meetings have been slotted in Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP won 27 of the 29 seats in 2014 but narrowly lost the assembly elections last year to the Congress.
Meanwhile, Bihar with 40 seats, of which 16 will vote in the last two phases, will see Modi address four rallies. In Bihar, the battle is between the two big alliances — the BJP-Janata Dal (United)-Lok Janashakti Party tie-up against the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal bloc.
The counting for the Lok Sabha elections will take place on 23 May.
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Five, possibly less, in Bengal. Maximum five in Orissa.
DREAM ON SIR!!