Amid the countdown to the assembly elections in Puducherry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a massive road show from Ansari Duraisamy Road to Kamaraj Salai in the union territory, which was also attended by Chief Minister Rengasamy, Home Minister Namachivayam and BJP state president and Raj Bhavan Assembly constituency candidate Mana Ramalingam.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to BJP workers in the Union Territory and urged them to increase grassroots contact and convert public support into votes.
Addressing party workers, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his development vision for Puducherry and highlighted the “best” mantra (business, education, spirituality and tourism) as the roadmap for development.
He said, “When I visited Puducherry, I gave the mantra of doing the best for the development of Puducherry…I am happy that the people of Puducherry, especially our youth, liked this mantra very much.”
Emphasizing on booth-level mobilization, the Prime Minister called upon workers to adopt the slogan “My booth, the strongest” and conduct door-to-door campaigning.
“Go door-to-door, meet every citizen and tell them clearly that Congress-DMK means family paramount, BJP-NDA means Puducherry paramount, India paramount,” he said.
He said this while targeting the opposition before the elections.
Targeting the Congress-DMK alliance, Prime Minister Modi accused them of giving priority to dynastic politics while ignoring the governance system. He said the conflicts within the opposition group reflected their lack of commitment towards public welfare while they were constantly striving to score electoral gains.
The Prime Minister also asked the workers to attract women voters through data-based campaigning, highlighting safety and welfare initiatives.
“Please inform them that the crime rate among women in Puducherry is 25, which is lower than the national average. Also, inform them that all reported cases are actively investigated by the police,” he said.
He said, “The BJP-NDA government has done a lot for women’s welfare. So, meet small groups of women and give them information about the women empowerment schemes of the Central government. Along with security, the income of sisters and daughters should also increase… this is also a big priority of the BJP-NDA. The Central government has started the Lakhpati Didi campaign; meet people, mothers and sisters and give detailed information about it.”
Calling for unity from NDA allies, Prime Minister Modi emphasized that creating a conducive environment is not enough. “Creating a conducive environment in elections is not enough. It is important to convert this support into actual votes, and this can only be done by dedicated workers at the booth level,” he said.
Focusing on Puducherry’s tourism-based economy, Prime Minister Modi said the number of tourists has doubled in recent years thanks to better connectivity and visa reforms.
The Election Commission has announced that voting in Puducherry will be held on April 9 and counting of votes will take place on May 4. The current tenure of the 30-member assembly of the Union Territory ends on June 15.
In the 2021 Puducherry Assembly elections, AINRC emerged as the largest party with 10 seats, followed by DMK with six seats, while BJP and Congress won six seats each. The voting percentage was 84.8. While in the 2016 elections, the Congress had won a majority with 15 seats, the AINRC had won eight seats, the AIADMK four seats and the DMK two seats, and the voting percentage stood at 83.6.