Narendra Modi addressing an election rally in Etah
is responding to an SOS from Punjab today. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate will pack into his Friday, five strategically planned election rallies in the state.
The whirlwind Modi tour comes at the behest of a desperate Akali Dal-BJP combine, now banking on what it calls the "Modi wave." Posters across the state feature Mr Modi with chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The Congress and the BJP-Akali Dal are seen as neck-and-neck in the state, both battling anti-incumbency sentiments. The Congress-led UPA from its 10 years of rule at the Centre and the Akali alliance from its seven years of ruling Punjab. (
NDTV Opinion Poll: near status quo in Punjab for Congress, Akali-BJP)
The latter has the more tough battle, say observers.
Mr Modi will address four rallies, before he hits Amritsar in the evening, where the BJP's top strategist
Arun Jaitley faces one of the toughest contests of these general elections against former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh of the Congress.
Mr Jaitley, seen as close to Mr Modi, is at 61 contesting his first Lok Sabha election.
The Modi tour begins in Pathankot, which is part of the Gurdaspur constituency, where the BJP's former MP and actor Vinod Khanna is contesting against the Congress' Punjab unit chief Partap Singh Bajwa, who he had lost to in 2009.
The Akali Dal wants Mr Modi too. He will visit Bhatinda and Ludhiana, two of his ally's most important seats. In Bhatinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, sitting MP and wife of Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal takes on her estranged brother-in-law Manpreet Badal fielded by the Congress.
Ludhiana is a must-win because the affluent city is the source of much of the party's funding. Akali candidate Manpreet Ayali is in a fierce four-cornered fight here; the Aam Aadmi Party has fielded activist and lawyer HS Phoolka, most known for his crusade to get justice for victims of the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
Punjab's 13 seats vote in a single phase on April 30. (
Elections: Full coverage)