Even as his arch political rival, Keshubhai Patel, and the opposing Congress party have pulled out all stops to see him defeated in the Assembly election next month, a confident Narendra Modi on Friday announced that his Bharatiya Janata Party would launch a unique three-dimensional poll campaign on November 18.
The high-tech campaign, claimed to be a first in the world, will see Mr. Modi addressing public meetings across the State without his real-time presence.
To begin with, the Chief Minister, who is known to have an uncanny connect with the over 42 per cent urban population in the State, will simultaneously address people in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot on Sunday. The address will be telecast live. The technology is expected to herald a new era in election campaigning.
BJP vice-president Parshottam Rupala and Gujarat BJP president R.C. Faldu said a special stage would be erected and a 3-D image of the Chief Minister projected onto it in such a way that the people would be able to feel Mr. Modi speaking in person without using special glasses to view the image.
The 3-D campaign will cover other cities, towns and constituencies later in a phased manner.
The announcement was made at a BJP-hosted get-together for journalists here to mark the Gujarati New Year that began on November 14. The annual event was organised at a hotel here, instead of the Chief Minister hosting it in Gandhinagar at his official residence, because of the electoral code of conduct in operation.
