‘Modi’ awaits Modi at selfie point in Old Ahmedabad
In the roadshow passing the Jamalpur-Khadia constituency, currently represented by Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, is set to see a multi-pronged fight with Gujarat chief of the AIMIM Sabir Kabliwala entering the fray, besides BJP's Bhushan Bhatt.
3 min read
The replica of Prime Minister Narendra Modi near Raipur gate in Old Ahmedabad. ExpressThe “selfie point” with a replica of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seated on a bench became the centrepiece of Khadia as people shifted it from the icecream shop to the street where Modi’s roadshow was to pass near the Raipur gate in the old Ahmedabad area on Friday.
In the roadshow passing the Jamalpur-Khadia constituency, currently represented by Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, is set to see a multi-pronged fight with Gujarat chief of the AIMIM Sabir Kabliwala entering the fray, besides BJP’s Bhushan Bhatt. A retired government official who came for the roadshow, sat down on the bench to “rest” waiting for the cavalcade.
“This is the area when Modi started his political career, and the statue resembles the way he used to hold ‘footpath parliament’ in the area, outside Ambica fulwadi stall, which is not there anymore,” said Hiten Bhatt, 30, yuva morcha and Khadia ward pramukh, who transported the selfie point bench and Modi to place outside the barricades, for the leader to take notice of the movable spot.
Bhushan Bhatt, who is the party’s candidate from the Jamalpur-Khadia constituency lost the previous elections by about 23% to the Congress candidate Imran Khedawala. Bhatt had won in 2012 elections.
As reported by The Indian Express, presently, all three municipal corporation wards (12 seats) in this constituency — Behrampura, Jamalpur, and Khadia — are equally shared by councillors from the BJP, the Congress, and the AIMIM. The constituency has around 2.17 lakh voters, among whom 1.13 lakh are Hindus and 1.04 lakh are Muslim voters.
Yogendra Khatri, 76, standing in for a friend who ran a sandwich shop , said, “We do not know about the party, but it has always been Bhatt’s area, and now his son (Puran Bhatt) is the one who deals with all the issues here. So definitely, the vote is going to him.”
A chemical colour manufacturer, Akash Jadhav, who sat beside “Modi” to get a selfie , a few minutes after the retired officer got up, said, “I am on my way for the roadshow. This is Modi’s area. Although, I vote for Congress as my family have been voting for it for years.” Jadhav, 30, is a resident of Khadia.
The women of Khadia came out in large numbers, waiting outside the darwaja, two women, Pallavi Adhvaryu, 55 and Bhavna Joshi, 63, who were neighbours, said, “”ast time we voted for the BJP, this time we can’t say whom to vote for. It’s mostly BJP which we vote in the Corporation, Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, in the area.”
Another woman, standing just behind the barricade on the road, was waiting for the leader for more than two hours. On being asked whether she took the selfie with the leader sitting on the bench nearby, Arunaben Rameshbhai, 35, a resident of the area, said, “I have always voted for Modi sarkar. But never took the selfie on this bench. I did not know it was installed in the area.”
The prime minister did not come out of his car to wave at his supporters and admirers like he did in the roadshow Thursday.
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