Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was scheduled to visit Uttar Pradesh's Noida to campaign for BJP candidate Mahesh Sharma, cancelled the tour due to bad weather in the Delhi-NCR on Saturday evening (April 13). Light showers were witnessed in the evening in the region, compelling the cancellation of Shah's visit to the city, who was earlier in Rajasthan's Alwar. He addressed the gathering in Noida by phone.
He urged the people of Noida to vote for Mahesh Sharma to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his victory for the third term to the office.
"Strengthen Modi ji by making Mahesh Sharma win with a huge majority. I will come to Mahesh Sharma's victory procession. I am sorry that I am unable to come due to bad weather," he said.
Shah made in-person appearances for poll campaigns in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan earlier in the day and was scheduled to reach Noida in the evening.
However, since he could not visit Noida due to bad weather in Delhi-NCR, the Union home minister addressed the gathering here through a brief telephonic call and solicited voters' support to ensure that Narendra Modi becomes prime minister for a third term.
"During the last 10 years, Modi has worked on a range of issues from the welfare of the poor to urban and infrastructure development in the country. The team of Mahesh Sharma and Narendra Modi got an airport in Noida and connected the area with several highways. Sharma has made a huge contribution to the comprehensive development of Noida," Shah said.
"PM Modi and (UP Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath) have strengthened law and order in Uttar Pradesh and with this opened paths for new developments in the state. I do not want to talk for long now and apologise for not being able to come there in person. But I promise I will be there for Mahesh Sharma's victory procession," Shah said.
Gautam Buddh Nagar has over 26 lakh registered voters and goes to polls on April 26. The BJP's Mahesh Sharma won the Lok Sabha polls here in 2014 and 2019. This time, he is facing competition from Samajwadi Party's Mahendra Singh Nagar and Bahujan Samaj Party's Rajendra Singh Solanki, among others.
