Shiv Sena all set for rally at Sion with 3-tier stage, led screens

The Shiv Sena cadre is working hard on their upcoming rally this month, and is seeing to each and every aspect of the rally to make sure a huge crowd turns up for the event. Called Pratigya Divas (Oath Day), the event will be held at Somaiya ground in Sion on January 23, the birth anniversary of patriarch and founder Bal Thackeray.

A worker assembles the stage at Somaiya ground in preparation for Shiv Sena's Pratigya Divas meet on January 23

The Sena plans to have a three-tier stage, which is meant to accommodate the party's top brass. There will be six entry gates for the public and various seating arrangements. LED screens would also be put up to display the proceedings to the audience.

Police survey the venue and the preparations. Pics/Sameer Markande

On the day of the event, threads will be distributed to party workers, who will take an oath to work towards bringing the Sena into power in the forthcoming elections. Party sources are expecting a turnout of around 5 lakh people, and wish to surpass the turnout at BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's meet at Bandra-Kurla Complex. Modi's rally, they claimed, expected the same number, but 3 lakh had shown up.

Every other Sena function scheduled for that day, on the local level, has been called off, so that the manpower doesn't get distributed and everyone is present at the venue. "Our motive is to have the biggest rally ever in Mumbai.

It would have a bigger crowd than any other leader's meet. We are talking about 5 lakh people; a minimum of 3.5 lakh would surely come. We're doing everything to ensure this happens," said a party leader. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray, along with party leaders, visited the Bal Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park yesterday, with the threads that would be distributed to party men in the meet.