COIMBATORE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in a ‘Road Show’ in Coimbatore city on March 18 for a distance of 3.5 kilometres. The BJP Coimbatore district headquarters approached the City police on Thursday seeking permission for the event.
Around 5,000 police personnel will be deployed for the security arrangements, said police sources. A nine-member team of SPG visited Coimbatore city on Thursday afternoon and they discussed the security arrangements with the Coimbatore city police officials. They also visited the route where the road show is to be held in the city.
As the Lok Sabha election approaches, campaigns on behalf of the major political parties are being planned. On behalf of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been continuously campaigning in various cities across the nation and he is scheduled to visit Coimbatore on Monday (March 18). It would be the fourth visit to the state in the last three months and the second visit to the western district (Kongu region) where it is believed that BJP has a robust vote bank.
The sources said that the road show will start from Eru Company between Kavundampalayam and Saibaba Kovil on Mettupalayam road and will end at DB Road Junction at RS Puram where Hindu outfits pay homage every year to the victims of the 1998 serial bomb blast. The Prime Minister will address the public at the same venue.
The Prime Minister’s visit is being scheduled as a road show-cum-campaigning in view of the upcoming election. The Prime Minister usually attends public meetings. He has opted for road show here as he plans to meet the public in the core areas of Coimbatore city where the BJP has a large number of supporters. The event focuses on both Coimbatore and Pollachi Lok Sabha constituencies as the starting point Kavundampalayam falls under the Coimbatore constituency and the endpoint goes into the Pollachi constituency limit.
(Coimbatore district shares boundaries with two Lok Sabha constituencies - Coimbatore and Pollachi.) Meanwhile, J Ramesh Kumar, District President of BJP, petitioned the Coimbatore city police commissioner V Balakrishnan, seeking permission for the Road Show for a stretch of around 3.5 km. “We plan to hold the event from Eru Company via Saibaba Kovil, North Coimbatore, Sindhamani and Kamarajapuram Junction (Cross Cut), and the road show will reach DB Road junction at RS Puram through East ThiruvenkataSamy road. We are expecting more than one lakh people to participate in the road show and to welcome the Prime Minister,” said Ramesh Kumar.
The focus on the western region especially on Coimbatore raises speculations that the BJP plans to field a key leader from Coimbatore in the Lok Sabha election.