Modi to rope in top leaders among rallies

Days after what was his first public rally since being appointed BJP's chief campaigner, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has hinted that he will rope in top BJP leaders for a series of big rallies at various cities across the country. The indication came during his meeting with BJP's Maharashtra core group leaders at Mumbai last week.

While his first rally after becoming the party's campaign committee chief was held on June 23 at Madhopur (Punjab) on Jan Sangh founder S P Mookerjee's death anniversary, BJP sources present there reveal that he informed them that his next rally was slated for July 27 at Hyderabad. The Hunkar Rally is already scheduled for October 27 at Patna. Modi has informed, the sources say, that the party's top leaders will also accompany him to these rallies and that there is plan for more such rallies.

They claimed that there was a plan to gather about five lakh supporters from across Bihar for the Patna rally to send a message against Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) government after the bitter parting of ways.

The Hyderabad rally holds significance in the wake of BJP's strong objections to the political stance of local MP and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who is one of the bitterest critics of Modi. The Gujarat Chief Minister is likely to send a clear message on the issue of Telangana as well as on the issue of secular-communal faultline in the polity for the next general election.

At the Maharashtra meeting, Modi was learnt to have suggested to the state's core group of leaders to finalise a firm schedule for next 10 months with an eye on mobilising popular support for elections and finalising slogans for local issues.

In addition, he was learnt to have suggested strengthening of the databse of party's booth-level workers to reach out to them for effective communication in the run-up to elections. In this context, he also suggested party's state leaders to start sourcing "youth volunteers" to reach out to first time voters.