Puri, May 20 (Reporter) The air on the Grand road in this pilgrim town reverberated with “Modi Modi "when Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared from the Sri Jagannath temple after offering prayers to the Trinity and walked about a hundred metres to Marichikot square to hold his road show on Monday. Modi stood on a decorated vehicle along with the state unit president Manamohan Samal and Puri Lok sabha candidate Sambit Patra besides Puri MLA candidate Jayant Sharangi. The Prime Minister waved hands to the public who were standing in large numbers behind the barricades on both sides of about 1.7 km stretch between Marcichikot chhak to Hospital square on Grand Road, popularly known as Bada Danda. Over three dozen pandals were erected at various places on both sides of the barricades where groups of artists had performed Odissi dance and other cultural activities as a welcome gesture for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per the schedule Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Talabania helipad at about 7 AM and proceeded to the Sri Jagannath temple. At the Simhadwar, the main gate of the temple, he was received by his family priest who conducted him inside the temple. The Prime minister after offering prayers to Lord Jagannath, his elder Balabhadra and devi Subhadra, also visited Mahalaxmi and Vimala temples inside the temple premises. He too paid respects to the pundits at the Mukti mandap and sought their blessing. After about half an hour the Prime Minister came out and held the road show. At about 9.30 he left for Angul by helicopter to address an election rally in support of her party candidates. The Sri Jagannath temple gates were opened at 6.30 AM and the day's rituals began with Mangal arati followed by Tadaplagi, Mailum and Abakash the regular chores of the Trinity then Gopal Bhog was offered. Modi had darshan of the Lords from the “Bhitarkath” area of the temple as entry to sanctum sanctorum has been prohibited by the Archaeological Survey of India. This is the second visit of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. His last visit to Puri was in 2016. He too had visited once in 2013 as the Chief minister of Gujarat. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates are delighted particularly Dr. Sambit Patra who is expecting his winning chances from the Puri Lok Sabha seat following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow on the Badadanda of Puri on Monday. Patra had lost to BJD nominee Pinaki Mishra by a narrow margin in the 2019 elections. BJP is putting all efforts to demolish this BJD bastion which it has successfully retained since 1998. Hundreds of BJP workers and candidates from six assembly constituencies have come to participate in the road show. They are jubilant and hopeful to win the elections. One Sidhant Bajpei, a devotee family from MP who came to witness the Mangala arati of the deities said he is fortunate to see the Prime minister so close from the barricades and his children were also happy to wave hands to the Prime Minister. This is the second visit of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. His last visit to Puri was in 2016. Earlier he too visited once in 2013 as the chief minister of Gujarat. About 63 platoons of police force besides the SPG were deployed for the security of the Prime Minister. Over one km long multilayer barricades were raised along the Badadanda and security arrangements were made as per the blue book, Puri SP Pinak Mishra said...////...