Palakkad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a road show here on Tuesday as part of the BJP-led NDA’s efforts to drum up support for its candidates in Kerala ahead of the April 26 Lok Sabha elections in the state.
The PM’s convoy, accompanied by Modi standing on an open-top vehicle decorated with flowers, started the roadshow from Kottamaidan Anchuvilakku at around 10.45 am and headed towards the head post office in the city.
PM reached here by helicopter from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
Thousands of people, including BJP supporters wearing flowers, garlands, party flags, Modi placards and party caps, stood on both sides of the nearly one-kilometre road show route.
As the road show progressed on the route, slogans of ‘Modi’, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, ‘Modiji Swagatam’ and ‘Modi ki Jai’ were heard from people gathered on both sides of the road.
They also showered flowers on Modi, who was wearing his party’s saffron-coloured Nehru cap.
Despite the rising temperatures, crowds of people of all ages gathered hours before the Prime Minister’s arrival and a festive atmosphere was created along the road show route.
Many people, many of whom had arrived with their families, told TV channels that they would not leave without seeing Modi.
Modi’s Palakkad road show follows his recent participation in a public meeting in Pathanamthitta town on March 15, where he mobilized support for NDA candidates contesting in southern Kerala constituencies.
Addressing the gathering in Pathanamthitta, the Prime Minister had said that “the lotus is going to bloom in Kerala” in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and attacked the ruling Left and the opposition Congress-led UDF, alleging that the people of the state had lost everything. Have endured. Difficulty under governments plagued by corruption and incompetence.
The BJP has seen an increase in its vote share from Palakkad constituency in the Lok Sabha elections, with its candidate Krishnakumar C securing 21.24 per cent of the total votes polled from here in the 2019 general elections.
This is Modi’s fifth visit to the state within three months.
He has visited the state twice in January, once in February and again on March 15.
