Put in the hard work to convert the wave in favour of change to votes, this was the small piece of advice given by Narendra Modi to waiting party functionaries at the BJP State headquarters.
Functionaries and state level office bearers braved layer upon layer of police security to listen to the man who is set to lead them into the heat of the battle in the coming Lok Sabha election. However, the mood was palpably upbeat by the time Modi left, even though he only gave the functionaries general directions on preparing for the elections.
Modi arrived at Kamalalayam, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu HQ, around 4:15 pm, after delivering a punchy speech at the airport. He was welcomed by BJP state president Pon Radhakrishnan, office secretary Sarvothaman and other senior state functionaries. Modi then addressed a gathering of state-level functionaries.
The guest list of 125 included district presidents, state vice presidents, state secretaries, national general secretary Muralidhar Rao and former state president L Ganesan. “Modiji did not address any specific aspect of our strategy for the elections, as the polls are months away and the situation can change rapidly,” said a prominent face of the party’s state unit.
“He asked us to put in the hard work that is required to convert the wave in favour of change at the grassroot-level into votes, and told us to go from door to door in this quest. It wasn’t a fiery speech but it was worth dealing with all this security cover,” the functionary added, pointing to the policemen on duty.
The State police force had placed a thick blanket of security around the area, to prevent protests and untoward incidents from marring the high-profile visit.
After addressing the gathering, Modi refreshed himself and left for Madras University.