Chennai, Nov 21 (UNI) Ahead of the Assembly elections

due in 4-5 months times, Senior BJP Leader and Union

Home Minister Amit Shah arrived here on Saturday on

a two-day visit to the city and was accorded a rousing

reception at the airport.

The BJP's shrewd strategist, who was instrumental in

NDA success in the recent Bihar polls, in keen on

replicating it in Tamil Nadu, where the BJP would

use his visit to gain a strong foothold in the State and

make a mark in the elections.

He was received by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and

ruling AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K

Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister and Coordinator

O Panneerselvam, senior Ministers, State BJP Chief

L Murugan, senior party leaders L Ganesan, party

incharge C T Ravi, among others.

Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, DGP J K Tripathy,

Chennai City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar

Aggarwal and other officials were also present on

the occasion.

Mr Shah was accorded rousing reception both by

the AIADMK and BJP cadres.

Since it was his first visit to the city after Mr Murugan

took over as the Party Chief, BJP leaders arranged

special reception all along the route from the airport

to a star hotel where he would be staying.

Roads in front of the airport were tastefully decorated

and folk artistes performed traditional dances at seven

strategic locations leading to the hotel to greet him.

Mr Shah, who came out of the airport, sprang a

surprise and chose to walk on the arterial GST

road for about 750 m, waving to the AIADMK and

BJP cadres who had lined up on both sides of the

roads to greet him.

At a government function, Mr Shah would dedicate

the newly constructed Chennai's fifth reservoir

at Thervaikandai in Tiruvallur district and lay

the foundation stones for Phase-II of the Chennai

Metro Rail project and various infrastructure

project at a cost of more than Rs 67,000 crores.

With the BJP maintaining that the alliance with

the AIADMK would continue for the polls, Mr Shah

was also expected to meet Mr Palaniswami and

Mr Panneerselvam to fine tune the alliance

strategy.

The issue of the release of seven life convicts

in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, which

was pending before Governor Banwarilal Purohit

for more than two years after the State Cabinet

recommended their release in September 2018

under Article 161 of the Constitution, was also

expected to figure during the discussions.

Later, in the evening he would meet prominent

leaders and hold discussions with BJP leaders,

office-bearers and district Presidents, besides

the Party's core committee, on the strategy to

be adopted in the upcoming elections.

He would leave for New Delhi tomorrow morning.

UNI GV 1417