A day in Modi's life: 3 rallies, frequent flights & endless phone calls

So, how does a day in the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi look like now?

Modi’s day starts early, always in New Delhi. Before he makes his move and gets on his helicopter, he speaks to at least 30 people about the campaign situation around the country, strategies to be adopted by the party, and where his presence would turn things around for the party’s candidate. If not early morning, the telephone talkathons happen late in the night.

One of the morning calls goes to Arun Jaitley who has been confined to Delhi and is keeping away from the limelight owing to ill-health. Modi picks his brains on what is happening in Punjab, Bihar and Delhi, to which Jaitley is clued in.

Calls with Amit Shah happen throughout the day — at least 10 times. Those telephone calls discuss the minutiae of campaigns and quick changes in tactics or decisions to be made on the fly.

Modi also calls party leaders, general secretaries in-charge of states and prabharis. These calls give him information from those with ears to the ground.

Phone calls to select journalists are part of his schedule. Some of these journalists are familiar with some turfs, such as key states. Modi is keen to get feedback on his speeches, the crowd in the rallies, and gets updates.

In the 30 days of campaigning for four phases, Modi addressed 89 rallies. Roadshows had also been organised. In the next 18 days, he would speak in 65 rallies. The remaining three phases are most crucial for the BJP where it is pitted against the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab and West Bengal (TMC).

Modi canceled the Baramati rally after getting feedback that the BJP candidate won’t be able to defeat Supriya Sule. Therefore, he decided to visit another constituency where his rally could possibly change the fortunes of the BJP candidate. Modi addressed fewer rallies in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Kerala he addressed only two rallies including one at Thiruvananthapuram where the BJP candidate has a chance win the first seat for the party. All this because he knew that the BJP didn’t have much going for it in these states.

His targets have been Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. It appears Modi will end up addressing 24 rallies in UP, 10 in Bihar, 14 in West Bengal, which would mean that these three states would take up one-third of all rallies he would have addressed this elections.