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Barely a few months after the BJP miserably lost the seat of power at the Karnataka state election polls, Narendra Modi, BJP's prime ministerial candidate will be pitching in with all his might to regain Karnataka's support to the party at the Parliament.
Karnataka has a total of 28 seats in the Lok Sabha and BJP has a lion's share of 19 seats of that.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who has managed to build a halo around himself, is scheduled to address a massive crowd in Bangalore on Sunday - November 17.
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Those in the action behind the scenes are working furiously against the clock to ensure the issuance of passes and smooth conduct at the event.
The BJP office in Bangalore is preparing for the D-Day, November 17 and scores of party cadres across units are pulling in all their weight to ensure that the rally is a big success.
Narendra Modi has not only managed to get himself anointed as BJP's prime ministerial candidate but also drawn immense participation in his addresses across the country and attained widespread coverage in the media.
The multiple gatherings across India have almost acted as a run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as the party seeks to boost its prospects with "Modi magic."
The rally being organised at the Bangalore Palace Grounds could see over 350,000 people thronging from across the state, according to a senior party spokesman.
To meet the logistical challenges, the party will use multi-modal means to help people reach the venue. The total cost of the rally: around Rs 5-6 crore.
The party claims that this rally is different from any other political rally held in the state, so far.
There has been a a systematic build-up as part of pre-rally preparations. Party workers had conducted rallies across the state - on two-wheelers and on foot - and they also visited the houses of voters.
The party has worked to ensure that there is representation from each of the 44,000 polling booths in the city.
Local party leaders have been asked to hire buses, cars or vans to bring people to the city.
The political jamboree will see something novel, being done for the first time in the state - "The people coming would have coupons worth Rs 10 for attending the rally. This is being done to instill a participatory behaviour," according to Suresh Kumar, a senior BJP spokesperson.
For the first time, Karnataka will see trains being hired to transport people to Bangalore for a rally.
"The trend was started by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi who hired trains to ferry people to Tirupati during the launch of his own party," Suresh Kumar, a senior BJP spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, the police said elaborate security arrangements have been made for the rally with some 5,000 personnel being mobilised for the event.
"Ten DCPs, 25 ACPs, 100 police inspectors, 250 sub inspectors, 300 assistant sub inspectors and 3,000 head constables and constables, 800 homeguards and 500 civil defence personnel, will be deployed for the rally," Bangalore Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told reporters here. The police has also undertaken preventive measures in sensitive areas of the city, including some pre-emptive arrests, he said.
