Shah’s road show sees Saffron surge across Namma Kudla

Mangaluru: If response to road shows were to determine the outcomes of electoral battles, then the BJP would have won the Mangaluru, Mangaluru City North and South constituencies on a platter. Despite the fickle nature of the electorate, who keep political parties and their leaders on tenterhooks till the final results are out, the BJP will still take the good response of the public to road shows conducted by national party chief Amit Shah in the city, as a good omen.
The searing heat and the fact that Amit Shah’s programme was behind schedule by 60 minutes did not seem to bother hardened election workers of the saffron outfit who gathered in good numbers at Thokkottu, Dongerkery and Kavoor to welcome their ‘Chanakya’. Coming on the heels of their ‘idol’ Narendra Modi’s visit to the city for an election rally on Saturday, the road shows by Shah was the ‘booster’ dose that the party workers were expecting ahead of the May 12 polls.

Chants of ‘Modi’, ‘Modi’, ‘Sarkara badalisi, BJP gellisi’ rented the air, as the road show wound its way through the busy National Highway from the BJP election office to Thokottu Junction, from Navabharath Circle to Sri Venkataramana Temple in the heart of the city, and from the party election office at Kavoor to Marakada. The specially-modified bus used for the Karunada Jagruthi Yatra served as his temporary perch, as Shah lorded over the adulating mass of party workers who lined up to see him.

Women atop buildings showered flower petals on Shah’s motorcade as it wound through the narrow lane in front of Sri Venkataramana Temple at Dongerkery. A band beat drums which reached a crescendo, and flag waving workers, as well as young and old alike thronged the streets for the rally. An enthusiastic Gujarati girls shouts of “Jai Sri Krishna” drew a smile from Shah as the motorcade neared the New Chitra Furniture talkies junction

Waving enthusiastically to people on either sides of the road and hurling back the flower petals back on to the workers, Shah on reaching in front of Sri Venkataramana Temple on Car Street, sought an undertaking from the workers that they will translate this outpouring of support into votes on Saturday. He also exhorted the workers who were hailing him and Modi to raise their voice so loud that it reaches the ears of the Prime Minister who is campaigning in Bengaluru.

Shah apologizes for miscommunication

An ‘apparent’ miscommunication meant that a press meet of Shah scheduled at 2.15pm was a non-starter. Shah, who arrived at the hall where the media was waiting for him for an hour, ‘apologised’ to them for this miscommunication. When the media exhorted him to at least reply to the legal notice sent on behalf of chief minister Siddaramaiah for a civil-criminal defamation case against him, the PM, state party chief B S Yeddyurappa and the party itself, Shah merely replied that he cannot decide on what to speak off hand, and that the party decides the agenda for him.