PM Narendra Modi leaves for Sydney

The PM will be on a whirlwind six-hour visit to Sydney before proceeding to Canberra tonight and later to Melbourne

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for Sydney at the end of his visit here after attending the G20 Summit.

Modi, who is the first Indian prime minister to visit Australia in 28 years after Rajiv Gandhi, left for Sydney on the second leg of his four-city tour of this country. He will be on a whirlwind six-hour visit to Sydney before proceeding to Canberra tonight and later to Melbourne.

"Modi fever grips Sydney," the Canberra Times said yesterday in a headline while carrying a report on its online edition.

"The city will get a dose of Modi-mania when the Indian Prime Minister makes a quick-fire, high-energy visit," it said.

More than 16,000 members of the Indian diaspora will pack Allphones Arena at Olympic Park to salute Modi at a community reception. About 5,000 more are expected to be watching the evening event on big screens outside.

More than 200 Modi fans left Melbourne bound for Allphones Arena tonight on a specially a chartered train dubbed the "Modi Express."

Playground of the biggest of rock stars, the iconic Madison Square Garden (MSG) arena in New York erupted in rapturous applause to the words of Prime Minister on September 29 during his visit to the US.

Packed to the capacity with around 20,000 NRIs, the MSG in downtown Manhattan reverberated with chants of "Modi Modi" much before the Prime Minister arrived.

Tickets for the event were sold out while hundreds others waited in front of a giant screen at the Times Square to hear Modi speak.