JOIN USWith single-phase polling in the 26 parliamentary seats of Gujarat completed, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) cadres are heading for Varanasi.
The rush is so overwhelming that all trains have been booked and several BJP workers are pooling in money to travel over 1,300 km by car to the holy town.
Few wish to take the air route from Ahmedabad to Varanasi via Delhi, for the fares these days are touching Rs 25,000, as against the normal going rate of Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000, depending on which airline you pick and when you book, a local travel agent said.
According to state BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani, as many as 300 booth managers, who did good work during the Gujarat polling, are either on their way to Varanasi or are going to leave by Thursday.
“They have been assigned responsibilities in Varanasi. Their job is to locate Gujarati population as well as those who have connections with the state,” he said. Rupani, Rajya Sabha MP Purshottam Rupala, state spokesperson and former minister I K Jadeja are already camping in Varanasi, whereas several others are on the way.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who is the party candidate against Modi from Vadodara, is leaving for Varanasi along with two dozen hand-picked Congress workers has decided to take air route. Mistry is also his party’s in-charge for Uttar Pradesh.
State spokesperson Manish Doshi said, “More than 100 leaders, including Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhvadia, former Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil and AICC secretary Dipak Babaria, will land in Varanasi on Thursday.”
Near about 500 AAP leaders and members are expected to reach Varanasi and there is another AAP team which will showcase a documentary film about the pollution and dirt in the Sabarmati river at many places along its banks.