Kozhikode getting ready to welcome PM Narendra Modi

KOZHIKODE: The government guest house, located on a hillock at East Hill here, is being readied to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will reach here to attend the three-day BJP national council meeting on September 23. As per the official itinerary, Mr Modi would stay in the guest house on Saturday (September 24) and return on Sunday. It is for the first time in the recent past that a prime minister has opted to stay in the guest house. Former presidents APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and vice-president M. Hamid Ansari had stayed here, said an employee.

A team of security officials would visit the guest house and premises on Monday. The entire room reservation for the guest house has been blocked. Guest house manager C.P. Jayarajan told DC that though Mr Manmohan Singh had spent a few hours in the guest house, he didn't stay there. "We are yet to receive any official intimation about Modi's visit, but were told to take necessary arrangements," he added. "Some repair works are on and some aesthetic changes also are being carried out," he added. "A special meeting has been convened in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday on security, safety and stay where we will get a final picture about his programme," he said.

Mr Modi would land at Karipur airport in a special Air Force flight at 3. 45 p.m. on Saturday. He would participate in the public meeting organized in connection with the national council at Kozhikode beach in which BJP national president Amit Shah also would participate. After a brief rest at the guest house he would also attend Smruthi Sandhya, a gathering of elders who served the party and its earlier incarnation Jana Sangh, to be held at Zamorin's Higher Secondary School. On Sunday he would attend the national council meeting at Sarovaram from 9.30 a.m. to 5.45 p.m. from where he would go straight to airport.