New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Tuesday's roadshow in Ahmedabad was cancelled, has opted for a plan that will involve a picturesque first: Using a sea plane to take off from the Sabarmati river. The sea plane, said party chief Amit Shah, will land on the pond of Dharoi dam, from where the Prime Minister will proceed to the temple of Ambaji by road.
This will be the first instance of a sea plane taking off in India. The Congress "can't even imagine development work like this," said the Prime Minister, taking a dig at the opposition party which has recently pointed to the absence of any mention of "development" from the BJP in the political discourse in Gujarat.
In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister added: "We won't be able to build airports everywhere so we will focus on waterways". He said as many as 106 such water-ways have been planned in the country.
The roadshow of PM Modi -- as well as one by soon-to-be Congress chief Rahul Gandhi -- faced a roadblock after the Gujarat police denied permission for it, saying they were apprehensive of law and order issues.
Rahul Gandhi's roadshow was to go through the Old City, the Prime Minister was to focus on the newer parts across the river. But the police said there was a possibility of trouble because the routes "were in mutual conflict".
In the evening, PM Modi tweeted:
BJP Chief Amit Shah soon after issued a one-line statement from the BJP's specially created election media centre, saying the Prime Minister would take to the waterway "to promote Gujarat tourism".
Tomorrow is the last day of campaigning for the second round of voting on Thursday in Gujarat, where the campaigning has been aggressive and high-pitched. Over the weekend, PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi had addressed multiple rallies.
On Sunday, political sparring escalated as the Minister alleged that Pakistan was interfering in the Gujarat polls and discussions were held on the election at a meeting at suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's home that was attended by Congress leaders and Pakistani officials.
This evening, Dr Singh issued an unusually combative response, saying the Prime Minister should apologise for his "ill-thought transgression".
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