Palakkad, 29 March (H.S.):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kerala Sunday sporting the traditional white mundu upon touchdown kicking off a high-octane election blitz for the April 9 Assembly polls with a massive rally at Palakkad's Fort Maidan around 2:30 pm followed by a grand roadshow in Thrissur at 4 pm.

The visit ramps up BJP's push in the southern state where Modi slammed the LDF-UDF duopoly for decades of power-trading amid scams while vowing his Modi guarantees would catapult Kerala to developed status. He declared BJP the undisputed A-team after opposition nods positioning change through people's blessings BJP workers' grit and sacrifices.

Tight security blankets both venues with traffic curbs in place as Modi backs women candidates Padmaja and Shobha Surendran alongside Union Minister Suresh Gopi. Thousands pack Fort Maidan from 12 constituencies while Thrissur's 900-meter Swaraj Round roadshow promises a sea of NDA supporters ahead of polls in Kerala Assam Puducherry Tamil Nadu and West Bengal's phased voting through April 29 counting May 4.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar