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Narendra Modi in Gujarat: Highlights of PM's visit to Surat, Silvassa and Botad
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting visit his home state of Gujarat on Sunday. The two-day visit assumes significance as the state goes to elections in November this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit his home state of Gujarat on Sunday. The two-day visit assumes significance as the state goes to elections in November this year.The main highlight of his visit will be a roadshow in Surat. Interestingly, the part of the road from where the prime minister's convoy will pass has been decorated with an 11-kilometre-long sari which depicts the various schemes launched by the government.Modi, who is expected to reach Gujarat at 7 pm on Sunday, and will stay overnight in the city before embarking on a tour across southern Gujarat. "He is visiting Surat for the first time after the BJP's landslide victory in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. We are very excited to receive him," NDTV quoted state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani as saying. The prime minister also tweeted about his itinerary on his official Twitter account. He is expected to inaugurate various welfare schemes and development projects in the BJP-ruled state including inaugurating a multi-speciality hospital.According to News18, Modi is also expected to go to Hira Bourse SEZ at Icchapur village in Surat district to inaugurate a diamond polishing unit of Hari Krishna Export Private Limited.Modi's Gujarat visit is crucial to the fortunes of the saffron party ahead of the assembly elections due later this year. The visit is especially important in the backdrop of the two-year-long Patidar agitation for reservations in education and jobs, which many believe may have dampened the BJP's prospects to win 150 seats in the Assembly — a target set by party chief Amit Shah.The Gujarat visit comes close on the heels of the prime minister's trip to Odisha. Although the visit was organised to participate in the party's national executive meet, the trip was doubled up as a chance to reach out to the people of Odisha, after the state gave the party a surprise win in recently conducted Panchayat polls.Earlier in the day, the prime minister reached the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar sharp at 9 am to offer his prayers and participate in a special Puja Arati. He offered flowers, bel leaves, milk, coconut water and water to the deity.The prime minister spent around 25 minutes in the temple premises.Modi also visited the temple of Goddess Bhubaneswari and Parbati, said Manoranjan Panigrahy, CEO of the Lingaraj Temple Administration."The prime minister was so enthusiastic to know about Lingaraj temple. He prayed for the welfare of the nation and 'Swachh Bharat'," said chief priest of the temple.The BJP is holding its National Executive meeting in Odisha's Bhubaneshwar. The prime minister is also expected to make his concluding remarks during the meeting on Sunday. In the meeting, BJP is said to have decided to make the state "a lab for the Centre's various welfare schemes", with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.The new resolution assumes significance as the party has made "Look East" its new component in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state as well as neighbouring West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is in power.With inputs from agencies
First Published:Apr 17, 2017, 15:40:55 IST
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