Food, space on PM's menu in state

Come Tuesday evening and the who's who of the state BJP will congregate outside HAL airport in Bangalore to give a grand civic reception to PM NarendraModi. Modi is visiting the state for the first time after he assumed power. As details of his overnight stay at the Raj Bhavan are being fine-tuned by the state BJP leaders, search is on for a sandalwood statue of Kempegowda, founder of Bangalore, which the party wants to gift Modi."If we don't get it, something else will be given," former DyCM R Ashoka, who is part of the panel to oversee Modi's visit, told TOI here on Thursday .
Modi will inaugurate a mega food park in Koravahalli in Tumkur, on September 24, his first public function in Karnataka after becoming the PM.
At the HAL airport, Modi will be given a civic reception by the BJP . About 15,000 party members are expected to attend.Later, he will visit Isro's Peenya facility that tracks satellites and implements manoeuvres. The Isro's Telemetry Tracking and Command Network is responsible for providing space operation services. This will be a closed-door event before he winds up the day with dinner at Raj Bhavan.
The next day he will fly to Tumkur to open the food park.The BJP is trying to include a meeting with Siddaganga mutt's 106-year-old pontiff Shivakumar Swami. However, the PM's protocol office is yet to confirm it.