As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bengaluru approaches, last-minute asphalting is being carried out on the roads that will be used by his convoy for the roadshow. The repair work includes filling potholes and asphalting certain stretches of the roads that were damaged in the last few months. TNM visited the routes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy will pass through and found that Aurobindo Marg in Jayanagar and Bull Temple Road in Basavanagudi are two of the roads currently undergoing asphalting work.
Congress workers organised a demonstration in Jayanagar 5th block on Thursday, May 5, where they criticised MP Tejasvi Surya for neglecting the condition of the roads in the area. They claimed that the road had deep potholes that were as much as two feet deep and had been damaged for six years. “Despite our protests and visits to the Vidhana Soudha, the government did not allocate funds to repair the road or other similar roads in the constituencies run by Congress MLAs,” ex-corporator N Nagaraju told TNM.
The protesters claimed that the patchwork was being done because Modi was visiting the city the day after, and that they were protesting against the government's selective approach to road repairs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Bengaluru is spread over two days, on May 6 and May 7. The roadshow was initially planned for May 6 only, but BJP organisers worried over the impact of a day-long roadshow, on commuters and traffic decided to hold it over two days. The roadshow will cover a total distance of 36.6 km in the city. Modi will hold the rally on May 6 from 10 am to 1 pm, starting from the Kempegowda statue in New Thippasandra and ending at the War Memorial on Brigade Road. On May 7, the roadshow will start at 10 am passing through Jayanagar, Padmanabhanagar, Basavanagudi, Chickpet, Chamarajpet, Gandhinagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Vijayanagar, Govindrajanagar and Rajajinagar.
In early 2022, a few days after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced that they had spent Rs 23 crore to repair roads ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bengaluru, the roads had started to deteriorate. Only three days after the Prime Minister's visit, the newly-renovated roads were in poor condition. Footage from Jnanabharti main road, which had been recently asphalted, showed the road surface peeling off like paint with minimal effort required.