PM Modi holds roadshow in Gujarat's Vapi, receives grand welcome

Valsad (Gujarat) [India], November 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday conducted roadshows in Vapi city in the Valsad district of Gujarat as the BJP ramps up its election campaign to be in power in the state.
He received a warm welcome from the local people of Vapi. Scores of people gathered to welcome and cheer for the Prime Minister.
PM Modi waved at the excited gathering during the roadshow.
Meanwhile, ahead of the Assembly elections, the Prime Minister is expected to participate in at least eight programmes crisscrossing the state from Saurashtra to Surat.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold rallies in Gujarat's Saurashtra for three consecutive days from November 20 to November 22.
More than 1.5 lakh people will participate in these rallies, said the source.
The Prime Minister will conduct three rallies in Saurashtra on November 20, two in South Gujarat and Saurashtra on November 21 and two in Saurashtra on November 22.
On November 20, after visiting the Somnath Temple, he is scheduled to address four rallies in the Saurashtra region. Venues have been finalised at Veraval, Dhorarji, Amreli and Botad.
Incidentally, in the last assembly elections, the BJP was not able to win a single seat in these assembly constituencies in Saurashtra. The BJP won the state polls but wasn't able to breach this bastion that has traditionally voted for Congress.
On Day 3, PM Modi will hold three rallies in Surendranagar, Bharuch and Navsari.
While Bharuch was the constituency of the former Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the past, the BJP state president CR Patil who hails from Navsari has been winning this Lok Sabha seat with huge margins.
Notably, Congress Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi is also expected to visit Navsari on November 21, the same day that PM Modi is expected to be in Navsari.
PM Modi, who hails from Gujarat, is also expected to have a closed-door meeting with the state leaders during his stay here to further boost the party in the western state.
In Gujarat, the BJP party has been in power for the last 27 years with Narendra Modi being the longest-serving chief minister of the state.
This time the party under the leadership of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and CR Patil is aiming to fetch more than 140 seats.
The state has been a BJP stronghold for a long and the party is confident of coming back and forming the government for the seventh term.
Out of the 182 assembly seats in the state, 48 are in this region, where polling is to be held in the first phase itself on December 1.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the Congress won 28 seats here on the basis of the support it got due to the Patidar movement. Whereas, the number of MLAs in the Bharatiya Janata Party had come down from 30 in 2012 to just 19 here.
The state of Gujarat which has 182 assembly constituencies will go for polling in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will occur on December 8, which coincides with Himachal Pradesh's result date.