Prime Minister Narendra Modi took off in a seaplane from the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam Mehsana, to hold a rally in Gujarat on the last day of campaigning for the state assembly elections.
After reaching Dharoi Dam reservoir, Modi offered prayers at the famed Banaskantha’s Ambaji Temple and then addressed a public gathering there. Later he flew back to Ahmedabad by the same plane.
With the second and final phase of polls due on Thursday, the Prime Minister Modi has been in the state consecutively for the last four days. Since the election notification for Gujarat, he has been a very frequent visitor to the state. The second phase polls on Thursday will see around 2 crore voters decide the fate of 1,828 candidates contesting for 93 assembly seats.
On the seaplane ride, the BJP said it was the first-ever flight by a seaplane in the country. Asked the reason for the Prime Minister taking a seaplane, Jagdish Bhavsar, an official of the Gujarat BJP, said, “You can take this gesture of the Prime Minister as our other programmes like the Ro-Ro Ferry Service, or the Bullet Train project or the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). You can take this new programme as one of the initiatives of the BJP.”
Earlier, local authorities had denied Modi and Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi to hold rallies in Ahmedabad. Tuesday was the last day for campaigning for the elections. Door-to-door campaigning, however, will be allowed wearing the party symbol on caps and T-shirts.