JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah will receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival at the HAL Airport in Bangalore on Tuesday and accompany him to two programmes during his two-day visit to the State.
Modi will arrive at the HAL Airport by a special flight on Tuesday at 5:40 pm and will be greeted by Siddaramaiah and the BJP top brass from the State. After giving the prime minister a formal welcome, the chief minister will leave the airport.
Siddaramaiah will accompany Modi when he visits Isro’s telemetry centre in Bangalore and when he inaugurates a food park at Tumkur the next day.
Siddaramaiah’s gesture has put to rest speculation that the chief minister will not share the dais with Modi following some Congress leaders’ decision to keep off Modi’s public events. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was booed by BJP workers at a function attended by Modi. Even Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan too faced embarrassment in public while participating in functions along with the prime minister, as the BJP workers booed them. On its part, the State BJP has advised its 10,000-odd workers attending the Tumkur event not to embarrass Siddaramaiah.
The party has instructed its workers not to carry party flags, caps or banners. The chief minister has also suggested to his party workers to send farmers to attend the Tumkur event. Huge banners and hoardings have come up at several places in Bangalore welcoming and greeting the prime minister. Flexes and banners covered every inch of available space on the entire stretch of the Old Airport Road, which will be taken by Modi’s convoy en route to Raj Bhavan.
The State BJP has planned a grand reception-cum-felicitation for Modi soon after his arrival at the airport premises itself.
After receiving the felicitation in the presence of the top brass of the State BJP and around 10,000 party workers, Modi is expected to make a speech for about 20 minutes.
Only 12 BJP leaders would be allowed to share the dais with Modi. The list includes former chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa and Jagadish Shettar, Union Ministers D V Sadananda Gowda, H N Ananth Kumar among others.
Briefing reporters in Bangalore on Monday at the event venue, former deputy chief minister R Ashoka said the party will issue 3,000 VIP passes, besides 10,000 passes to workers.
Those who cannot be accommodated at the venue will greet Modi by standing on the sideways as he leaves for Raj Bhavan for his overnight stay. At the Raj Bhavan, Modi’s old friend, one-time Cabinet colleague and Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Vala will play host.
The prime minister will be presented with a momento (specially crafted Kempegowda riding a horse) and shawl. The party is also planning to informally brief Modi on the flood and drought situation in the State and seek release of Central assistance at the earliest.
A memorandum on the State’s requirement from the Centre will be submitted at a later date, Ashoka said.
The next morning, Modi will witness the Mars Orbiter’s tryst with the Red Planet at the Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network in Peenya at 6.30 am.
He will inaugurate the India Food Park, a mega public-private initiative, at the Vasanthanarasapura industrial area in Tumkur district.