To maintain momentum,Modi extends UP rally dates

Party had earlier announced that Modi will hold nine rallies in UP —- one each in eight different regions and the last and the biggest in Lucknow on December 24.

Modi has decided to hold next rally in Varanasi on December 20,a month after Agra rally. Party state president Laxmikant Bajpai confirmed that last rally,scheduled to be held in December in Lucknow,will now be organised in February.

Bajpai said other rallies of different regional units,including Gorakhpur,Bareilly and West regions,will be organised in December,January and February. The reason Bajpai gave for change in the schedule was that Modi is busy in the Assembly elections of five states where results would be announced on December 8.

Another senior party leader,however,said that it was the first time when more than one lakh people were attending BJP rallies in UP and that was happening because of Modi. “These rallies are making a good atmosphere in favour of BJP. To ensure that this pro-BJP wave is maintained,party requires to hold rallies till Lok Sabha elections are announced,” he said.

“If Modi’s rallies end in December,it will create a vacuum in BJP activities in UP till the announcement of the elections,” he said,,adding that first list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections could be announced either in January or February to maintain the momentum.

Bajpai said that party has set the target to make the Lucknow rally the biggest one in the country with a gathering of more than 10 lakh people. He said 22 trains would be booked to ferry workers from all across the state. Trains would be booked from Varanasi,Deoria,Gorakhpur,Azamgarh,Meerut,Banda and various other places.