All roads led to Parade Grounds as huge crowds that travelled by different modes of transport made their way to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Vijay Sankalp Sabha of the BJP on Sunday.
Every village and mandal from all the 33 districts booked their date for this grand political event. The saffron party leaders did not leave any stone unturned in mobilising the supporters for the grand event. While South Central Railway ran 10 special trains to the capital from different parts of the State, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) gave on hire 1,102 buses for the day, according to TSRTC Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar.
“I had never seen such a huge congregation of people in the recent past. At least 5,000 people came to Hyderabad from our erstwhile district,” said Kamalakar Reddy from Mahabubanagar district, standing on the pavement next to Parade Grounds. Like Mr. Reddy, there were hundreds of BJP supporters from across Telangana who reached the venue much before noon and desperately waited for the security personnel to open the gates so that they could go first and grab their seats.
The Parade Grounds was from where Prime Minister Modi symbolically kick-started the mega campaign to capture power in the State. Apart from trains and buses, including scheduled ones, thousands of supporters started from their places late on Saturday night or in the wee hours of Sunday in their own or hired four-wheelers and reached Hyderabad much before the public meeting started.
“We hired an SUV and came here with a group of youngsters,” said K. Subash Rao from Nizamabad. A majority of the people came from erstwhile districts of north Telangana like Adilabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad where the BJP has a strong base. “More than 10,000 people from erstwhile Adilabad came to Hyderabad today. From Adilabad town alone there are at least 5,000 people. We booked a train with 26 coaches, apart from both TSRTC and private buses, and car,” said Adilabad District BJP president Payal Shankar. Privates buses and trucks were parked at Bison Polo ground near the venue.
