PM’s Coimbatore roadshow cleared by court after police deny permission

chennai:

The Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu police to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct a 4-km roadshow in Coimbatore on Monday, subject to certain conditions.

Police refused permission on Friday morning citing law and order concerns and a public inspection. Police also said permission was denied to other political parties, so there was no issue against any party.

The court noted that the role of the state apparatus in ensuring the attendance of the prime minister at rallies or events was minimal, and that the prime minister was guarded by a special protection team. However, police insist they bear “equal responsibility”.

This weekend, weeks away from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the prime minister will spearhead a massive outreach campaign to southern states that have traditionally rejected the BJP.

Read | Lok Sabha election date to be announced tomorrow

The prime minister has set a target for the BJP to win 370 seats in this election, his fifth visit to Tamil Nadu, where he criticized the ruling DMK and its Indian allies, including the Congress party. criticized them for participating in fraud and called themselves the “Bharatiya Janata Party”. A sign of development.

The BJP’s influence in Tamil Nadu is negligible.

But its influence is relatively strong in Coimbatore, where law and order issues have always been sensitive, especially the 1998 serial bomb blasts in the city that targeted senior BJP leader LK Advani. Nearly 60 people were killed in these explosions.

In the last general election, the BJP polled less than three per cent of the vote and this time it lost its main ally after the AIADMK’s acrimonious exit. However, the breakdown in ties between the BJP and the AIADMK has not stopped the Prime Minister from reaching out to his former ally. Earlier this week, he praised AIADMK icon and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Read | Congress-DMK seals Tamil Nadu deal, Kamal Haasan is guest

However, the AIADMK is yet to show signs of thawing and insists that it will fight alone for the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. The BJP’s tie-up with the AIADMK has not turned out well for the party, which has lost the last two major polls to fierce rival DMK.

The BJP has also reached out to smaller Tamil parties, including Ramadoss’s PMK and the late actor-politician Vijaykanth’s DMDK. The saffron party has had some success with sitting MP S Vijayadharani from Vilavancode in Kanyakumari district changing his stance.

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