The Tamil Nadu leadership of the BJP is set to sit down for a meeting on Thursday morning to finalise the date and place of a massive public meeting, in which the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would share the stage with the leaders of all the allies parties. Sources in the party said the rally is likely to take place on either April 18 or 19.
The State BJP leadership would also have to finalise the location for the rally. The options presently being weighed are Nagercoil, where State president Pon Radhakrishnan is the candidate, Coimbatore and one among Dharmapuri or Krishnagiri. Some voices in the party have also sought to bring the meeting to Chennai, but the leadership is keen on taking Modi to a different part of the State this time.
“He just came here recently, so it is unlikely to be Chennai. The way things are going, it is likely to be either Coimbatore or Nagercoil,” a party functionary told Express. “Both these places are pockets of considerable influence for us, and would help bolster our chances,” the functionary added.
Party sources also said all allies had been sounded out about the tentative dates, so they can make changes to their own schedules as necessary to be able to share stage with Modi. The last time Modi was in Chennai, on February 8, most allies had given the public meeting a miss as the alliance had not been finalised at that point.
This would be the third public meeting Modi would address in the State in just seven months. He had addressed a massive public meeting at Tiruchirapalli on September 26, 2013, and the public meeting at Vandalur. Party leaders also said this visit might just last only a few hours, as there is a possibility Modi would be addressing six meetings in different places across the country on that day.