Goa prepares for Modi rally

Nearly one lakh plastic chairs have been rented and 1,000 buses booked while women picked from a minority community are asking cable television viewers to make it to the Vijay Sankalp rally.

Goa is gearing up for BJP prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi's Jan 12 meeting, billed as the biggest ever public meeting in the state.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, known to be a close associate of his Gujarat counterpart, walked through the streets of Ribandar, a Panaji suburb, inviting people for the meeting at Merces, a village just outside the capital's municipal limits.

"We had planned for one lakh people. But I feel it is going to be much more than that," says Parrikar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has booked over 1,000 buses, some from the state-run Kadamba Transport Corp and even from neighbouring states, after the organisers ran out of local private buses available for hire.

"We have hired buses from areas just across the border in Maharashtra and Karnataka. We also expect some crowd to come for the meeting from those areas," Parrikar said.

BJP sources said that over 75,000 tickets worth Rs.5 each had already been booked in the last three days. By Saturday, the number would swell a bit.

"The final tally would be available by Saturday. But right now, through online booking and through physical coupons, we have sold over 75,000 tickets," a party official said.

The Goa rally is one of the 100 rallies organised to create a connect between Modi and the national electorate.