Gujarat elections: PM Modi leads BJP's 50km, 4-hour roadshow through 13 Ahmedabad seats

AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi enthralled residents of Ahmedabad on Thursday evening with an unprecedented roadshow that passed through 13 of the 16 seats in Ahmedabad, amid showering of petals, fireworks display and a sea of humanity chanting his name boisterously.
For the BJP, which is looking to extend its more than two-decade long run of governance in Gujarat, the massive roadshow was the icing on the cake of a hurricane campaign of its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Without making a single speech during his roadshow which lasted about four hours, the PM stirred up voters of almost all constituencies of Ahmedabad city, which votes in the second phase on Monday, December 5.
On a day when 89 assembly constituencies in Saurashtra and South Gujarat voted, PM Modi led a show of strength that was not just a reflection of the admiration for him among the masses, but also the BJPs dominance of Gujarat's political landscape for over two decades.
A roadshow of the scale witnessed on Thursday evening in Ahmedabad has perhaps not been seen anywhere in the country so far, as the PM, standing in a decorated vehicle, greeted thousands of energetic supporters lined up on either side of the road and on balconies and terraces of buildings as his roadshow began in Naroda and flowed through major parts of east and west Ahmedabad, before culminating in the Chandkheda area of the city.

Along the route, the PM paid obeisance to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and Subhash Chandra Bose by offering floral tributes at their statues in the Bapunagar, Maninagar and RTO areas of the city.
Security personnel had a tough time keeping the swelling crowd under control as enthusiastic onlookers tried to get close to PM Modi's open jeep all along the route and huge crowds thronged the streets in what was arguably the country's longest and most attended electoral show of strength.
The PM will address four more election rallies on Friday, to wrap up his Gujarat assembly election campaign. Modi will address rallies at Deodar and Patan in North Gujarat, Sojitra in Central Gujarat and in Ahmedabad on Friday.