BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed at his rally at Palace Ground in Bengaluru on Sunday
addressed his first rally in Bangalore today after being named the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. And he had the mammoth crowd chanting his name.
The huge crowd, estimated to be over three lakh, at the city's Palace Grounds welcomed Mr Modi like a hero. Most of them had paid Rs 10 to attend this rally, and the Rs 35 lakh collected was handed over to him for the construction of a giant statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a pet project of the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Mr Modi began the rally by greeting the crowd with a few lines in Kannada, and congratulated Professor
CNR Rao, a Bangalorean, and
Sachin Tendulkar for being awarded the Bharat Ratna. The mention of Sachin, though, came with a twist.
"The whole country was watching Sachin at Wankhede stadium... and they were wondering if Sachin would hit a century first, or if it would be the price of onions," Mr Modi said.
And there was a mention of another Bharat Ratna recipient as part of the attack on the Congress-led UPA government. "You all admire Lata Mangeshkar, listen to her songs, and she has said it would be good if Narendra Modi becomes prime minister. And for that, some Congress leaders said her Bharat Ratna should be taken back!" Mr Modi said, referring to a demand made by a Congress leader in Maharashtra for stripping Ms Mangeshkar of the award for her endorsement of the chief minister as the next prime minister.
The attacks against the UPA were sustained, whether it was mocking its stand on telecast of opinion polls, proposed curbs on social media or the definition of poverty. The BJP hopes all this would help revitalise the party in Karnataka ahead of general elections in 2014.
"After this rally, mood of Karnataka people will change 100%... Sonia Gandhi had a rally in this same ground... barely 5,000 people were there," R Ashoka, BJP leader and former Home Minister told NDTV.
But the BJP will also remember that the response to Mr Modi's rallies did not really translate into votes for the party in the state assembly elections in May.