Mumbai: In an attempt to boost the BJP’s election campaign for remaining 11 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra including six Mumbai seats, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow in Mumbai on Wednesday evening. The roadshow will be held in the Ghatkopar area, which falls in the Mumbai North East constituency, and it will cover a distance of 2.5 kilometers.
As per the schedule announced by the BJP, the PM will arrive in Mumbai after holding two election rallies in Maharashtra — one in Dindori and another in Kalyan Lok Sabha constituency where chief minister Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant is contesting. He is expected to arrive in the city around 4.30pm. Chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar will accompany Mr.Modi in the roadshow.
The Mumbai traffic police have issued a notification announcing road closure at several spots on the Lal Bahadur Shashtri road, which is a major arterial road that stretches 21 kilometres from Thane to Sion. The notification issued by deputy commissioner of police Dr Raju Bhujbal said that the road show will attract large number of followers which will impact the vehicular traffic movement in the vicinity of LBS Road which is why on LBS Road — from Gandhi Nagar Junction to Naupada Junction and on Mahul-Ghatkopar Road from Meghraj Junction to R,B. Kadam Junction will be closed on both the bounds from 2 pm to 10 pm. People have been advised to use alternative routes suggested by the police.
The road show is significant particularly for the Mumbai North East constituency where BJP’s Mihir Kotecha is contesting against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Deena Patil. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been trying to make it a Marathi vs Gujarati contest. The BJP feels that a roadshow by the PM himself will help to counter the attempts to make regional pride an electoral issue in Lok Sabha.
“People will be reminded that they will be voting to give the third prime ministerial term to Narendra Modi. These are not state elections. People in Maharashtra support Mr. Modi and the roadshow will ensure that the election campaign does not go on any other track,” a BJP leader said.
The roadshow will end at Ghatkopar (east) area very close to the Rajawadi hospital, where the injured victims of Monday’s billboard collapse have been admitted. According to a BJP functionary, the PM could visit the hospital and meet the victims.
Earlier in the day, the PM will address a rally in Dindori, where BJP’s Bharati Pawar is contesting against NCP (SP)’s Bhaskar Bhagare. Later, he will hold a campaign rally for Shirkant Shinde, who is contesting from the Kalyan seat, and Shiv Sena’s another candidate Naresh Mhaske, who is contesting from the Thane seat.
Mr. Modi will also hold another rally in Mumbai two days later on Friday. It is likely to be the last mega rally in Maharashtra before the campaign ends at 5pm on Saturday. MNS chief Raj Thackeray will be sharing a stage with the PM for the first time.
