One lakh supporters expected to join Modi as he files papers

VARANASI/ LUCKNOW: Narendra Modi’s nomination procession in Varanasi on Thursday could end up surpassing many rallies held during this long poll season.
The BJP claims its prime ministerial candidate will be followed by more than one lakh supporters as he goes to file his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha seat between 11.40 am to 12 noon.
According to the schedule circulated by the BJP, Modi will land at Babatpur at 8.30 am and leave for Banaras Hindu University, where he will garland a statute of the university’s founder Madan Mohan Malviya.Then he will hold a 2-km long road show, which will begin with the garlanding of Vallabhbhai Patel’s statue at Maldahiya Cross Road.
The procession will pass through various localities and culminate at Mint House. There, Modi will garland a statue of Swami Vivekanand and address the gathering. The speech will basically be a thanksgiving exercise, a member of Team Modi said.
He will then move towards the district headquarters along with his proposers and senior party leaders to file the nomination.
According to Modi’s election campaigning committee in-charge Ashok Dhawan, only three open vehicles, with BJP hoardings on the side panels, will be used during the procession. Apart from Modi, BJP leaders such as Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Laxmikant Vajpayi, Amit Shah and Kalraj Mishra will board these vehicles. All other participants will move on foot.
As per the programme, Modi will be welcomed at over a dozen places by various organizations. Dhawan said since the colour of marigolds match that of the BJP, only they would be used. The party denied having purchased the flowers, but sources said over one tonne of marigolds would be used during the procession.
BJP committees down to the booth levels have been tasked to ensure the participation of over a lakh people from Varanasi constituency in the road show. The whole exercise is being monitored by senior leaders who have been camping in the city for weeks. Dhawan said the leadership’s emphasis was on holding a grand show of strength with the local people, who are also the voters.
A four-layered security cover will be put in place for Modi’s nomination. The security arrangements along the routes through which his procession will pass have undergone several tests and checks since Tuesday. Security drives covering hotels, lodges, dharmshalas, railway stations, bus stands and other sites have been held since Wednesday.
SSP Jogendra Kumar said bomb-disposal and anti-sabotage squads had been engaged to check all the sensitive points Modi was expected to visit. He said the squads would conduct the same exercise on Thursday morning and also move along with the BJP leader’s nomination procession.
Kumar said Modi would remain in a four-layered security zone. The first layer will be of NSG guards, and Gujarat police commandos will be in the second. The other two layers will be of the local police and the anti-terror squad.
After filing the nomination papers, Modi is expected to leave for Bihar, where he is scheduled to address a rally.