Lok Sabha election 2024: PM Narendra Modi to hold grand roadshow in Mangaluru on Sunday

Lok Sabha Election 2024: After addressing a mega poll rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur and holding a roadshow in Rajasthan's Dausa on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to take out a roadshow at Mangaluru down south in Karnataka on April 14, Sunday.

According to party sources, preparations are on in full swing for the event. Despite the Congress holding the reins of Karnataka, the BJP has set itself the target of winning all the Lok Sabha seats in the southern state.

Ahead of PM Modi's visit to the city, Sathish Kumpala, the BJP's district president of Dakshin Kannada, told ANI on Friday, "The people here are very happy that PM Modi is visiting us. We are anticipating about one lakh people to line the streets for his roadshow. Our karyakartas (party workers) will also be enthused and motivated seeing PM Modi among them. There is a festival-like ambience here in Mangluru ahead of the roadshow. We will showcase the cultural heritage of Dakshina Kannada during the roadshow. The people, as well as party workers from Dakshin Kannada 8 Assembly constituency, will gather in numbers for the roadshow on April 14."

The roadshow is scheduled to commence at 6 pm on Sunday, with Prime Minister Modi kicking off the event by garlanding the bust of Narayana Guru at Narayana Guru Circle.

"The roadshow will proceed towards Mangaluru Municipal Corporation in Lalbagh, followed by MG Road after Ballalbagh. It will then proceed through Navabharat Circle via PVS Circle and continue along KS Rao Road, before culminating near the Hampankatte signal," Kumpala informed ANI on Friday.

Also sharing the enthusiasm around PM Modi's visit to Mangaluru, Nalinkumar Kateel, the sitting BJP MP from Dakshina Kannada, told ANI, "Lakhs of people will come out on the streets to welcome PM Modi on April 14. He (BJP candidate Brijesh Chowta) will win the polls by a handsome margin. We even fared well here in the Assembly elections, winning 6 out of 8 seats here and all 5 seats in Udupi. We are hopeful of winning all 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka."

Captain Brijesh Chowta, an ex-serviceman, is the BJP's pick for the Dakshina Kannada constituency this time.

The Dakshina Kannada parliamentary constituency is inclusive of 8 assembly segments.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kateel, contesting Dakshina Kannada on a BJP ticket, won comfortably bagging 7,72,754 votes. Mithun M Rai of the Congress finished second, losing by a margin of 2,73,367 votes.

In the 2014 general elections, Kateel won the same seat against Janardhana Poojary of the Congress, bagging 6,42,452 votes. The Congress candidate lost by 1,43,480 votes.

Polling for Dakshina Kannada is scheduled to be held on April 26.