Hyderabad: The state BJP was in for a pleasant surpirse at the Begumpet airport, where it had set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a brief appearance upon his arrival in the city.
It was expected that the Prime Minister would accept greetings from the BJP leaders, wave to the cadres and leave. Instead, Mr Modi spent time to speak to the leaders, delivering a message to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
The party, criticised for not having chalked out significant activity in the recent past, managed to muster a crowd of over 5,000 activists. The party had set up a stage with chairs and a public address system.
As soon as they saw him, the crowd started shouting “Modi, Modi”. State BJP president Dr K. Laxman presented a colourful Pochampally handloom shaw; to Mr Modi who, to his astonishment, chose to wear it all through the brief impromptu meeting.
Prime Minister was also presented a coffee table book on Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara, a tribal festival held biennial in the State.
Much to their delight, Mr Modi invited Dr Laxman and Leader of the BJP Legislature Party G. Kishan Reddy to accompany him to all the events in city. They flew in his special helicopter to Miyapur for the inauguration of the Metro Rail and then to HICC, the venue of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Dr Laxman said, “Modiji coming to the venue and addressing BJP cadre will help us in building the party in the state.”
He pointed out that due to his tight schedule, the Prime Minister could not deliver a speech at the inaugural of Metro Rail, but he preferred to speak at the party reception. “This was really great,” Dr Laxman said.
