Prime Minister Modi’s Ayodhya road show likely on May 5
BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh emphasise that the grand event will set the narrative for the remaining phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections
LUCKNOW/AYODHYA Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a road show in Ayodhya on May 5, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Uttar Pradesh stressing that the grand event will set the narrative for the remaining phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Ayodhya, which comes under Faizabad parliamentary constituency, will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the general elections. Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum 80 members to the Lower House, is polling across all seven phases, including the 16 seats that have already voted in the first two phases on April 19 and 26.
“Modi ji will hold a road show in Ayodhya on May 5. We are preparing for the same,” BJP’s Faizabad lawmaker Lallu Singh said, adding the mega road show is expected to start from the banks of the Saryu river around 5pm and cover the 13-km stretch of the newly laid Ram Path, which features both Hanumangarahi and the grand Ram temple.
“It will be a grand event, in which BJP leaders as well as commoners are expected to participate in a big way,” Singh said, without confirming if Modi will visit the grand temple.
Modi’s proposed road show will coincide with the beginning of the silent period ahead of the third phase elections on May 7, when 95 constituencies across the country and 10 in Uttar Pradesh will go to polls. “The PM is expected in Ayodhya on May 5 and will hold a road show here, but his final programme would be cleared only by the BJP and SPG,” Ayodhya district magistrate Nitish Kumar said.
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This will be Modi’s third visit to and his second roadshow in Ayodhya in four months. He had held a road show in Ayodhya on December 30 last year, weeks before the inauguration of the Ram temple on January 22. The consecration ceremony at the grand temple, and the boycott of the event by opposition Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) — both contesting the polls in alliance — have featured heavily in BJP’s poll campaign, with several senior leaders, including Modi, raking it up at various poll rallies.
A senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said the party is aiming to use Modi’s Ayodhya visit to reach out to voters not just in Faizabad, but also in adjoining Lok Sabha constituencies Barabanki, Gonda, Kaiserganj — all three will vote on May 20 — Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur, and Basti — which will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth phase.
