Guj Polls: PM Narendra Modi to address 12 rallies in 3 days

New Delhi: On a whirlwind tour of poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will to address 12 public rallies this week. On December 6, he will address four back-to-back rallies in Dhandhuka, Dahod, Netrang and Surat. On December 8 and 9, he will again address 8 consecutive rallies in Bhabhar, Kalol, Himatnagar, Vatva, Lunavada, Bodeli, Anand and Mehsana.

These public rallies have been pitched as "Vikas rallies" by the ruling BJP.

Earlier, the CM-turned-PM has already addressed 15 public rallies in both north Gujarat and in the Saurashtra region since November last week. He addressed eight public rallies on November 27 and 29 and also addressed seven rallies on December 3 and 4.

Though there have been reports of empty chairs and fewer crowds, but the rallies of PM Modi also made it clear that Modi is the BJP, and Modi is Gujarat.

During the ongoing election campaign, he has also been addressed as Shahenshah in many places. There is no mention of senior state and national leaders, nor the chief minister Vijay Rupani, though he has been sharing the dais with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Moreover, Modi's Gujarati speeches seem to be more effective than Hindi speeches, which political observers feel that can conceal the dent in the state.

Even the party sources claimed that, the breach in the Patel votes can also be obscured as PM Modi—a man, who made it on his own terms, has been able to woo other backward voters.

In addition, beyond the 'commercial region' of the state of Gujarat the BJP also believes that the urban centres will remain with them because of Modi's 'reform', 'perform' and 'transform' agenda.

Other star campaigners include Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states—Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhara Raje and other senior state leaders.

The two phased Assembly elections are scheduled on December 9 and 14. The result will be out on December 18.