Kolkatans, on Friday, need to brace for the heat combined with humidity and a day of disruptions as the stage for the battle for Bengal comes to the city.
Large parts of the city’s southern localities and the fringes will be hit by traffic restrictions with rallies and padyatras lined up for the day.
Friday is when the big two in the battle for Bengal – Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee – are camping, campaigning and crisscrossing through the city to seek votes for their party nominees.
The Prime Minister, who stayed overnight at the Lok Bhawan and took a boat ride on the Hooghly, is all set to address a public meeting at Panihati, in North 24-Parganas.
The BJP has fielded the mother of the junior doctor raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The gruesome crime that shook the conscience of the city and brought people across all sections of the society on to the city streets and beyond touched a raw nerve.
From the northern tip, Modi will head straight to South 24-Parganas’ Baruipur.
The Kolkata Police’s traffic department has restricted vehicular movement from 8.30 in the morning till 4.30 pm on a number of roads across the city, including the Eastern Metropolitan bypass. Vehicular movement is restricted on Rani Rashmoni Avenue, Red Road, Kings’ Way, Strand Road, St Georges Road, Hastings ramp, Kidderpore Road, 11, Furlong Gate, Lovers Lane, Hospital Road, AJC Bose Road, the AJC Bose and Maa flyovers, the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and the Ultadanga new flyover.
While Modi will be addressing BJP supporters in Baruipur, the chief minister will hit the streets on her home turf in a padayatra from Gopalnagar more on Judges Court Road to Paramhansa Deb Road, less than one kilometre around 4pm.
The second round of Mamata’s padayatra on the day is from Diamond Harbour Road and Hari Sabha Street crossing till the Manasatala Lane and Karl Marx Sarani.
Mamata will address two back to back rallies, one for Firhad Hakim at the Bhukailash Ground and the other in her constituency Bhabanipur’s Collins Lane.
In the evening, the CPM has a rally scheduled for its Jadavpur nominee Bikashranjan Bhattacharya at 6.30pm from the Jadavpur University gate to Garia, covering a distance of little over 5km.