After "Good News" From Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi Back In Gujarat: 10 Points
As PM Narendra Modi addresses crowds in Bharuch, Hardik Patel, the 24-year-old Patidar leader who is urging his community - traditional supporters of the BJP - to vote the party out of power, will be prepping for a mega rally this evening around 70 kms away in Surat.
Gujarat Election 2017: PM Modi will today first address a rally in Bharuch in south Gujarat (File)
Gandhinagar: After a gap of three days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back today in south Gujarat and Saurashtra, where he is scheduled to address seven public gatherings over the next two days. Boosted by Fridays spectacular victory in the civic polls in Uttar Pradesh and the rise in GDP growth figures, the Prime Minister is expected to pitch the governments development agenda at what the ruling BJP has called -Vikas Rallies-. Eighty-nine districts of south Gujarat and Saurashtra -- parts of which are dominated by the politically-influential Patidar or Patel community - will vote in the first phase of the assembly polls on Saturday, December 9.
Here is your 10-point cheat-sheet:
PM Modi addressed a rally in Bharuch in south Gujarat today; he will later move on to Surendranagar and Rajkot in Saurashtra. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to address rallies at four places - Dharampur in Valsad, followed by Bhavnagar and in Junagadh and Jamnagar in Saurashtra.
Suggesting a repeat of electoral success for the BJP in Gujarat hours after the party's landslide win in the UP civic polls, the Prime Minister, on Friday, had said, "Be it our stand on triple talaq or our decision to implement the GST, the country's voters want progress and India's well-being. And, as we know, as soon as winter sets in in UP, Gujarat too feels that cold air after some time. That air has already reached here."
"Yesterday, it was announced that our GDP has grown by 6.3 per cent. Just when we were relishing that moment, people of UP did wonders. We are getting good news at regular intervals now," the PM also said.
The rebound in GDP growth in the quarter ending September has also come as a major boost for the government, which has been under opposition attack over demonetisation and what they call a "chaotic roll-out" of the Goods and Services Tax. Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the manner of the GST rollout has brought small businesses to their knees.
The Congress Vice-President has tweeted a series of questions for PM Narendra Modi. This time was on women's safety, education and health in Gujarat. He quoted figures from government agencies for these questions.
As the PM addresses crowds in Bharuch today, Hardik Patel, the 24-year-old Patidar leader who is urging his community - traditional supporters of the BJP - to vote the party out of power, will be prepping for a mega rally this evening, around 70 km away, in Surat, where he launched a massive agitation for reservation in government jobs and colleges two years ago.
Surat, the commercial capital of Gujarat and the second biggest city in the PM's home state, is politically high-profile. Since 2002, the BJP has won every single one of the 16 assembly seats in the Surat district. But in the municipal election in December 2015 - a few months after Hardik Patel's mega rallies - the Congress more than doubled its seats (the BJP though won the corporation easily).
The ruling BJP is reportedly worried not just about Patels being upset over quota but also about resentment over demonetisation.
The city's large non-Gujarati population, mainly textile traders and workers from UP, Bihar and Rajasthan who control the power-loom industry, also seem divided over supporting the ruling party.
These migrants comprise nearly 26% of Surat's 44.26 lakh population and are as frustrated as the Patels by demonetisation and GST.
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