Modi creates record, addresses 114 rallies for Gujarat polls

Ahmedabad, Dec 10 (UNI) Chief Minister Narendra Modi has created a record by addressing as many as 114 public election meetings across the state in the past two weeks.

Mr Modi, who is not out at the score of 114, is likely to make double century in addressing public meetings by the end of second phase of polls, to be held for 92 seats on December 16, BJP Spokesman Yamal Vyas said here today.

Mr Vyas said ''The Chief Minister's 114 meetings have covered all the 87 constituencies which are going to poll tomorrow. According to a rough estimate, BJP's star campaigner Mr Modi had addressed over 22 lakh people in his public meetings so far.'' ''If we take his (Mr Modi's) public addresses made in past few months into account during the official functions organised for the government schemes such as 'Sagar Khedu Scheme' for fishermen, 'Van Bandu' for tribals, 'Mahila Sammelan' for women and others, then the Chief Minister has directly made speeches to over 2.5 crore people of total population of 5.5 crore in the state.

He said Mr Modi was supported by a strong battery of BJP leaders, including 37 national leaders, who in total have addressed 414 public election meetings in last two weeks.

The BJP spokesman said ''The BJP election campaign was spearheaded by political stalwarts like Leader of Opposition in Parliament L K Advani, Party President Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiya Naidu, Arun Jaitley and others. While the galaxy of political stalwarts were supported by celebrities like former cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu, Hema Malini, Smruti Irani, Naresh Kanodia and others.'' In the first phase of Gujarat polls, the party has directly addressed over several lakh people through public meetings. Besides this, each candidate and the teams of supporters have made door-to-door and individual campaigning. In addition to these, the party also launched SMS campaign and published advertisements in print and electronic media and ran a cyber campaign among others to secure its victory in the polls.

The party has set its well managed booth-management for the tomorrow's first phase of polls for 87 seats, spread over Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat regions, of the state assembly.

When asked, Mr Vyas said the party is expecting to win around 65 seats in the first phase.

UNI