With barely a year left for the Assembly polls in UP, PM Narendra Modi has started prioritising the state by planning to undertake three visits to the politically volatile state in February.
Modi will visit Varanasi – his parliamentary constituency on the occasion of Ravi Das Jayanti, on February 22. Five days later, on February 28, he will visit Bareilly in Rohilkhand and is slated to address a massive Kisan Rally. Prior to that onFebruary 10, Modi will attend the convocation of Shakuntala Mishra University in lucknow.
The PM had earlier visited lucknow, the parliamentary constituency of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on January 22 to attend the convocation function and address students in Baba Saheb Bhim Rao University.
Though official ij nature, all these visits do have a political overtone. His visits are aimed at sensitising party workers and prepare them for the impending battle royale.
A senior BJP leader told ‘The Pioneer’ that UP is a prestige fight for the BJP as the state had given 71 party MPs in last lok Sabha polls. “If we can retain the trend, UP would be ours,” he said.
leaving nothing to chance, the BJP has paradropped Union ministers asking them to visit different districts and halt for the night in select villages. The programme of 14 ministers have been fixed.
Meanwhile, a report from Varanasi says that Modi could visit Ravidas temple in Seer Govardhan area of the city onFebruary 22. The district administration confirmed that a verbal intimation in this regard has indeed been received. At a function, the PM is likely to flag off a Ravidas Jayanti procession from the temple. Meanwhile in lucknow, a BJP spokesperson informed that the party will hold a mega Kisan Rally in Bareilly in which Kisan Insurance Scheme will be highlighted on February 28.
During his last visit to UP on January 22, Modi had attached top priority to the dalit agenda and had stressed his Government’s commitment to uplifting the social status of the downtrodden.