Modi to lead BJP’S campaign in Guj, hold 8 rallies in 3 days
GANDHINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign for the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections, holding multiple rallies in his home state during his three-day visit starting November 19.
Polling for the 182-member Gujarat legislative assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. Counting of votes will be done on December 8, along with Himachal Pradesh.
The Prime Minister will visit Gujarat on November 19 and spend three days there, attending at least eight programmes in Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions that will go to polls in the first phase along with Kutch, a senior BJP leader in Delhi said. “He will visit the state regularly during the two-phase elections,” said the leader, requesting anonymity.
After landing in Gujarat on November 19, Modi will address a rally in Valsad. The next day, the PM will visit the famous Somnath temple before addressing four rallies at Veraval, Dhorarji, Amreli and Botad in the Saurashtra region. On November 21, Modi will hold three rallies in Surendranagar, Bharuch and Navsari.
The PM is also expected to have a closed-door meeting with state leaders during his stay.
On Friday, BJP national president JP Nadda, several Union ministers and chief ministers will address public meetings in the 89 assembly constituencies heading for polls in the first phase, the Gujarat BJP said in a release.
“Nadda will hold three rallies at Navsari, Ankleshwar and Rajkot East, while Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Singh Tomar and Anurag Singh Thakur will speak at multiple meetings,” the release said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan will address three and four rallies, respectively. Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union ministers VK Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste are among other party leaders to address rallies on Friday, the party release added.
Meanwhile, filing of nominations for the second phase polling for 93 seats in north and central parts of Gujarat ended on Thursday. OBC leader Alpesh Thakor filed his nomination as a BJP candidate from Gandhinagar South seat on the last day. He was accompanied by chief minister Bhupendra Patel.
In 2017, Thakor won the poll from Radhanpur seat as a Congress candidate. He defected to the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections, but lost the assembly bypoll to Radhanpur. The BJP has fielded former legislator Lavingji Thakor from the seat.
While the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are contesting on all 182 seats, the opposition Congress has fielded 179 candidates and left three seats for Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On Thursday, Mahesh Vasava of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) withdrew his nomination, avoiding the father-son clash for Jhagadia in the Bharuch district, where his father and BTP founder Chhotu Vasava is in the fray as an independent candidate. The Vasava senior has represented the Scheduled Tribes (St)-reserved seat for the seven consecutive terms.