Modi, Rahul mega rallies in battleground UP today

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh will emerge as a massive political battleground on Monday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi address public meetings around the same time in different districts. Both the leaders are expected to speak on the same issue which is demonetisation.

The Prime Minister will be addressing a public meeting in Kanpur — his sixth and last parivartan rally — and is expected to use the occasion to make some clarifications on demonetisation. The Central government’s move to demonestise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations has been aggressively projected as anti-poor move by the Opposition parties to dent Mr Modi’s image and his party’s Assembly poll prospects.

Mr Gandhi, on the other hand, will be addressing his first “notebandi” rally in Jaunpur in which he will focus on the travails of the common man on the demonetisation issue.

UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak, who is camping in Kanpur to oversee the arrangements, said on Sunday that the meeting would be historic and give a befitting reply to the Opposition, that is opposing the demonetisation move.

Incidentally, Mr Modi will be sitting on the same wooden chair he sat on during the launching of his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Kanpur in October 2013. The chair, claim BJP sources, is extremely lucky for Mr Modi.

“We believe that if the PM sits on the chair again at the ‘parivartan yatra’ rally, it will bring positive change for the party in 2017 elections and BJP will win the maximum number of seats,” said a BJP leader.

Mr Gandhi, on the other hand, will continue attack on the Centre in his first in a series of rallies. UPCC president Raj Babbar and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad will also address the rally.

Mr Gandhi had earlier held a roadshow in Jaunpur as part of his “kisan yatra and khat sabha” from Deoria to Delhi. Later this week, Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi will again address rallies in Varanasi and Bahraich respectively.