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By PTI
VARANASI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav conducted a road show here late Friday evening, a little after the conclusion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign, ahead of the March 7 polling.
Standing atop his ‘Samajwadi Rath’, Yadav began his roadshow from the Rath Yatra roundabout in the pilgrim city and moved around in the areas covering the three Assembly seats — Cantonment, Varanasi North and Varanasi South.
He campaigned on the route different than the one taken by Modi earlier.
Yadav was accompanied by the three candidates from these constituencies, Pooja Yadav, Ashfaq Ahmad Dabloo and Kishan Dixit, respectively.
The roadshow, that began at 8 pm, will cover an area stretching about 2 km and will pass through Gurubagh and Laksha and end at Gadauliya, party sources said.
Akhilesh will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple to pay his obeisance to Lord Shiva, they said.
Despite late hours, people came out in large numbers to greet Yadav.
Earlier in the day, SP’s district president Vishnu Sharma had alleged that though he had sought permission from 5 pm to 10 pm for the party chief’s event, the Varanasi administration permitted them to hold the event only from 8 pm to 10 pm.
The SP had lost all eight seats in Varanasi in the previous Assembly elections.
This time, it has fielded its candidates in four constituencies and allotted the remaining four seats to its allies, two each to Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) and former minister On Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.
Crowds cheered and showered flower petals on Narendra Modi’s cavalcade as he held a mega roadshow here, drumming up support for BJP candidates ahead of the last phase of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi stood in an open-roof vehicle as the convoy travelled over three kilometres through the holy city, part of the prime minister’s Lok Sabha constituency.
Two security men stood behind him.
The crowd chanted “Jai Shri Ram” and “Har Har Mahadev”, and showered rose petals at several places as Modi waved to them or folded his palms in a namaste’.
The PM wore a saffron cap and a “gamcha” (towel) around the neck.
Crowds followed Modi all through the roadshow and many people stood on balconies and rooftops, waving at him.
Modi arrived in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency after addressing a rally in neighbouring Mirzapur, on a two-day visit before the polling on March 7.
Other political heavyweights also headed towards Varanasi on Friday.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was scheduled to conduct a roadshow late evening, and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi held a rally in the district.
Modi began the show after garlanding a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Maldahiya crossing.
The convoy covered three kilometres before the PM visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple where he offered prayers.
He then left for Lanka chowk where he garlanded the statue of Madan Mohan Malviya, ending the event.
At Lahurabir, some devotees welcomed the PM by chanting hymns.
And at Kabirchaura, people danced as devotional music played.
Modi had begun his first roadshow in Varanasi from the same spot after filing his nomination papers for the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
BJP city president Vidyasagar Rai said Modi will stay the night at the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) guesthouse.
Modi’s roadshow covered the three assembly segments of Cantonment, Varanasi North and Varanasi South.
At the Kashi Vishwanath temple, “damrus” (small drums) were beaten to receive him.
He performed the Shodashopachara puja to lord Shiva, priests said.
The prime minister will wind up his Varanasi trip on Saturday — the last day for campaigning according to Election Commission guidelines — with a rally in Khajuria village in Rohaniya assembly constituency.
People from the other five assembly segments under the Varanasi parliamentary constituency will also participate, Rai said.
During an earlier stay at the DLW guesthouse, Modi had written in the visitors’ book that it reminded him of his childhood days when he used to sell tea at Vadnagar railway station in Gujarat.
After the mega Modi event, Varanasi was set to see Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s roadshow from 8 pm to 10 pm.
SP’s Varanasi district president Vishnu Sharma told PTI that earlier they had sought permission from the district administration to hold the event from 5 pm to 10 pm.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also landed in Varanasi Friday and headed to Phulpur middle school grounds for a rally after praying at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The two reached the venue after holding a roadshow of their own in support of Congress candidate Ajay Rai from Pindara assembly segment.
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