The overwhelming response he received in Bengaluru during the roadshow there on Saturday made Prime Minister Narendra Modi believe that it is the people who are contesting the 2023 assembly elections in Karnataka on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said at a rally in Badami in Bagalkote district.
With just two days left for campaigning to end for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, Modi held a massive roadshow in the state capital travelling 26 km in a specially-designed vehicle, waving at the large number of people who had lined up on both sides of the route.
The roadshow from Someshwar Bhavan RBI Ground in Bengaluru south to Malleshwaram's Sankey Tank in the northwest part of the city, took about three hours. It went through parts of south and central Bengaluru, covering about a dozen of the 28 Assembly segments in the city.
Modi, who was accompanied by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, was greeted with chants of “Jai Bajarangbali” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” at many places with people beating drums and showering petals as his cavalcade passed. The Prime Minister responded by showering the petals gathered on the vehicle on the crowd.
Modi will hold a roadshow for about 10 km on Sunday between Kempegowda statue at Thippasandra to Trinity circle.
“The never-seen-before love and affection I saw in Bengaluru was unparalleled,” he said. “This morning, I went to have a 'Darshan' of 'Janata Janardhan (public God)' in Bengaluru. People gave me never-seen-before love and affection,” Modi said at the rally in Badami later in the evening.
“What I saw in Bengaluru, I say with confidence that this election is neither Modi contesting, nor BJP leaders or our candidates. It is the election the people of Karnataka are fighting on behalf of the BJP. I see the total control of the election in the hands of people,” he said.
The BJP's “double engine” government has been working on bringing in development without discrimination, he said.
