Nearly one lakh people are expected to turn up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally at Nehru Maidan here on Saturday, according to V. Sunil Kumar, election in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for Dakshina Kannada.
Briefing reporters here on Friday, he said the Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra of the party will commence at the maidan at 3.15 p.m. Mr. Modi will address the rally at 4.15 p.m.
Party workers from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha Constituencies will attend the rally. The MLA for Karkala said that Mr. Modi will arrive in the city from Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu. The rally is expected to be over by 5.40 p.m.
Later, the Prime Minister will leave for Bengaluru to address an election rally there at 6.45 p.m.
Mr. Kumar said that the rally on Saturday will be bigger than the one addressed by Mr. Modi in the maidan during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
B. S. Yeddyurappa, president of the State unit of the party, and its general secretary C.T. Ravi will also attend the rally on Saturday.
He said that the party has aimed at winning the Dakshina Kananda Lok Sabha seat for the eighth consecutive term with a margin of over 2 lakh votes. It had won the seat with a margin of 1,43,709 votes in 2014.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, Sanjeeva Matandoor, president, Dakshina Kannada unit of the BJP and MLA of Puttur, Y. Bharat Shetty, MLA, Mangaluru City North, reviewed the preparations.
Meanwhile, police have made elaborate security arrangements in the city in view of Mr. Modi’s visit. There will be restrictions on traffic movement in Hampankatta and nearby areas during the rally.