Show of strength by Modi, Akhilesh-Rahul combo and Mayawati in the ancient city of Varanasi

With focus shifting to the final phase of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, all parties are pulling out all stops to woo the electorate.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during their road show in Varanasi | PTI
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during their road show in Varanasi | PTI

VARANASI: Finally after a buildup of several weeks, Varanasi had its Modi moment and Modi had his Varanasi moment. Thousands lined the streets of this town in eastern UP as the Prime Minister and his party worked up voter exuberance with a massive road show that underlined two things: one, Narendra Modi has made this UP election a referendum on the performance of his government, and, two, he’s not backing away despite the criticism of demonetization.

Varanasi on Saturday turned into a political battlefield as all the top guns of this election -- Narendra Modi, Akhilesh Yadav-Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati -- crossed swords 48 hours before the high-octane campaigning for the UP polls comes to an end.

This is the first time that a Prime Minister was holding a road show, indicating the importance Varanasi holds for a win in polls. Nearly a dozen of his cabinet colleagues were in Varanasi to galvanize votes for the BJP. Varanasi goes to polls on March 8.

But Modi's road show and two public meetings clearly overshadowed the similar activities Akhilesh Yadav-Rahul Gandhi organised and the rather less showy events held by BSP supremo Mayawati.

Modi presented a mini report card of his government and took on the UP ke ladke over a host of issues including the continued flight of rape-accused minister Gayatri Prajapati. Mayawati chose to attack both her rivals, saying, “They know they are going to lose and therefore are measuring the length of the road.” Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi took on Modi saying he has not fulfilled any promise in the last two and a half years.

The SP-Congress Gatbandhan also accused Modi of conducting a road show without permission.

In addition to the massive four-hour road show in Varanasi, Modi and his backroom boys cleverly turned his visit to the Kashi Vishwanath and Baba Bhairavnath temples into quasi-electoral events.

The Prime Minister, addressing a public meeting in Jaunpur, sharpened his attack on Akhilesh Yadav, saying he was protecting Gayatri Prajapati. ''The minor girl is crying for justice and Akhilesh is protecting Prajapati. When people do good work, they chant the Gayatri mantra. But the SP-Congress alliance is chanting Gayatri Prajapati mantra.''

Around the time when Akhilesh-Rahul were smiling and waving at people in 9 km road show, Modi accused the rival parties of playing politics with surgical strikes on Pakistan and “playing similar politics over OROP for 40 years until we came to power and delivered it.''

On demonetization, he took a jibe at his rivals. ''Buaji (Mayawati), bhateeja (Akhilesh) aur unka yaar (Rahul Gandhi), all got jittery when the note ban came into force. Kya taqleef hui, bhai?'' he asked.

To an earlier remark by Akhilesh Yadav that if Modi drove on the Delhi-Agra expressway even he would vote for the SP, Modi gave it back in the same coin. “Let Akhilesh and Rahul ride a bicycle across Jaunpur and I assure them even they would not vote for their own party.''

He assured people that once a BJP government is formed in UP, the first decision would be to waive the loans of small farmers. ''We are also laying a gas pipeline from Gujarat to Gorakhpur and once that work is over, everyone will have gas supply.''

Highlighting the law and order problem, he wondered whether all police stations have been turned into SP offices. ''All big criminals have turned jails into their palaces. Let the BJP come to power, a jail will be a jail and a police station will work as a police station.''

Earlier in the day, Mayawati, addressing multiple rallies, took a dig at the Prime Minister and Akhilesh, saying huge turnouts at road shows do not fetch votes. ''Haar ke dar se dono party road naapne mein lagi hai.''

She also took potshots at Modi saying that his promise to turn Varanasi into a smart city has only remained a dream. ''Even the priests of the temples which they visited know that they are going to lose,'' she remarked.

Simultaneously, the joint road show of Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi with Dimple Yadav standing in between, went on till 8 p.m. To the SP’s embarrassment, at the time when the road show was passing by the Gudaulia chowk, power supply went off and the entire area was plunged into darkness. In fact, throughout the day, power supply got disconnected at least thrice.

Briefly addressing party workers, Akhilesh remarked that no one could understand PM's ''mann ki baat.'' ''I can list out 10 development works I have taken up. Can the PM do the same?'' he asked.

Rahul Gandhi said Modi had promised to clean up the Ganga, give employment opportunities but failed to keep a single promise.

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