PM Modi to be in Gujarat for 3 days from Sunday; BJP plans five yatras

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Gujarat for three days beginning Sunday, as the ruling BJP steps up its campaign in the election-bound state. In addition, the party is planning a series of yatras across the state to reach out to every assembly constituency ahead of Diwali.

Five yatras are planned across the state, covering all 182 assembly segments of the state, said party functionaries. Each of these yatras will be attended by one national leader of the party and a senior state leader, they said.

"Each yatra will hold about four major public meetings every day and about seven to eight smaller meetings, apart from being welcomed about 15 times daily along the route," said a person familiar with the matter, who did not wish to be identified. "Through major public meetings we expect to gather about 25,000 people, while smaller meetings will have about 15,000 people."


The welcoming crowd will have about 5,000 people, said the person.

The BJP is also planning to keep on changing the leaders leading the procession every day. While the party is yet to declare the routes, one of the yatras is likely to travel from Unai Mata temple in southern Gujarat to Ambaji temple in the north, covering 27 tribal seats.

Similarly, keeping the religious symbolism strong, other yatras are expected to travel from Somnath to Dwarka in the coastal area of Saurashtra and from Bahucharaji temple in Mehsana to Mata no Madh in Kutch.

Several Union ministers have started visiting the state. While Union ministers Meenakshi Lekhi and VL Verma arrived on Thursday, Virendra Kumar, Smriti Irani, Niranjan Jyoti, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav and Kiren Rijiju are scheduled to visit various parts of the state on Friday.

Pratima Bhaumik and Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma will visit the state on Saturday, while on Sunday Arjun Munda, Pratima Bhaumik and Giriraj Singh will be in the state.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the BJP launched a mobile app, BJP Yojana Setu, which carries information regarding various government schemes and facilitates stakeholders seeking these benefits.