It will be a super Monday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch its ‘campaigner-in-chief’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi in two poll-bound states – Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – even as it completes its high-voltage Jan Ashirvaad Yatra in MP and Parivartan Yatra in the desert state.
PM Modi will address party cadre and supporters in both the states, injecting confidence among them, taking the BJP poll bugle to the level of siren. Monday is also significant for the BJP as it is the birth anniversary of Jan Sangh co-founder Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
Interestingly, the BJP has started its campaign way early this time, even announcing candidates for weak seats, while election dates are expected anytime in October.
The Prime Minister is likely to travel to Madhya Pradesh at least thrice in the coming weeks, say sources. It includes Monday’s trip when he will address party workers on the occasion of the culmination of the Jan Ashirvaad Yatra that the BJP started off as an early warm-up exercise on the instruction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
PM MODI HAS MADE 34 TRIPS TO MP SINCE 2013, LAST WAS DAYS AGO
Monday’s meeting will take place in Bhopal — an MP town that Modi visited days ago as the Prime Minister to announce developmental projects worth more than Rs 50,000 crore. His rally is being organised in Bhopal’s Jamburi Maidan — the same ground where Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s all-women pre-rakhi meet was organized when he increased the monthly dole for the Ladli Behna Yojna. The BJP is expecting a crowd of 10 lakh.
The recent trip to Madhya Pradesh was Modi’s 34th trip since 2013 and seventh this year alone, as earlier reported by News18. In his last visit, which was focussed more on the government, Modi didn’t shy away from attacking the Congress. “The party (Congress), which ruled this state for decades, left it high and dry and economically laggard compared to other states. People from previous generations would remember how the Congress left the state’s Bundelkhand region in desperate need of water, electricity and roads," he had said.
MODI TO RETURN TO JAIPUR AFTER 4 YEARS
PM Modi’s other pit stop is another poll-bound state where the Congress is in power.
Unlike Bhopal, which he visited weeks ago, the Prime Minister will be returning to Jaipur after four long years. The last time he was in Jaipur was ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With the culmination of the ‘Parivartan Sankalp Yatra’, the state BJP is calling Monday’s mega rally ‘Parivartan Sankalp Mahasabha’.
Sources say he will reach Jaipur around 2pm and reach the ground, which is on the outskirts of the city, after 3pm, before offering floral tributes to Deen Dayal Upadhyay in Jaipur.
Senior leaders, including from State Prabhari Arun Singh to State BJP President CP Joshi, have been frequenting the rally venue over the weekend to ensure it is a success. In every assembly constituency, down to the mandal level, the BJP has pressed its machinery to reach out to people to invite them to Monday’s rally in Jaipur with rice. A day ahead of his high-voltage rally, the PM flagged off Udaipur-Jaipur Vande Bharat on Sunday.
However, just a couple of days ahead of the PM’s visit, former chief minister and BJP’s most formidable face in the state Vasundhara Raje Scindia suggested that she is up for a fight if the BJP projects anyone else as its leader in the election. She said in no uncertain terms, “I am not leaving Rajasthan. I will stay put here and help the people of the state."
However, sources in 6A Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg suggest the BJP has decided already not to project any state leader as its CM face and the focus should be to unitedly fight the Congress. “Pradhanmantri ji will do precisely that. He will unite the party against the Congress’s misgovernance tomorrow," said a BJP General Secretary on condition of anonymity.
In 2018, the BJP’s vote share was 0.1% more than the Congress, yet it won 109 seats, five less than that the Congress at 114. However, with Scindia switching sides, the BJP came back to power in MP in 2020, two years after the election. In Rajasthan, the Congress, however, swept back power. The BJP had won just 73 seats, much lower compared to the previous election, in which it won an absolute majority of 163 seats.
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