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Nandini Oza
Nandini Oza

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Modi inaugurates several projects in poll-bound Gujarat

modi-botad-pti Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Link-II of SAUNI Yojana by offering flower petals at Botad | PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's action packed two-day stay in home state Gujarat has further given a boost to the ruling BJP that is already on a high after national party president Amit Shah's visit last month.

Gujarat goes to polls by the year end. After the massive victory in Uttar Pradesh, the party has set a target of winning 150 out of the 182 seats in the state.

While the opposition Congress appears to be nowhere in the picture and has only its vice president Rahul Gandhi as the star campaigner, who also has failed to make any impact, the BJP has none less than Modi and Shah. 

And the popularity of these two needs to be seen to be believed. When Shah was welcomed last month, it appeared that he got a bigger reception than Modi had been getting in the past but now when Modi arrived late evening on Monday, the welcome was like never seen before in the state. 

The entire stretch of over 11 kilometer road from the Surat Airport to the Circuit House had a sea of humanity on the either side, while bikers in large numbers escorted the prime minister.

Known to play to the gallery, Modi impressed one and all. While going to attend a function, he asked his driver to stop the car when he saw a young girl coming towards the car, breaking all barricades. The confused NSG asked the girl to go back, but on Modi's insistence she went near to the car. 

Modi took her on his lap and cuddled her and also inquired about the pink wrist watch that she was wearing. Nancy, the girl, referred to Modi as “Modi Dada”.

In Surat, Modi inaugurated a multi crore multi-specialty Kiran Hospital set up by the Patidars and a diamond unit of Hare Krishna Exports.

For the BJP, it covered the Patidars, who have been demanding reservation for over one and a half years now. The BJP seems to have planned his visit carefully with the programme of handing over aids and appliances to the differently-abled in Silvassa targeted the tribals.

Before winding up his tour, Modi laid foundation stone of the second phase of a water works scheme at Botad in the Saurashtra region that normally faces water crisis, especially in summer. 

At Botad, Modi praised Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Sinh Chouhan government for enabling plantation on the banks of river Narmada. “All this is being done so that people in Gujarat get water,” Modi remarked. 

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