Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign from Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh, signalling the BJP’s move to capitalise on the religious fervour in the State since the consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya on January 22.

Though Modi had opened hiscampaign from Meerut even in the 2019 general elections, this time, BJP has fielded actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram in the famous television serial Ramayan, in the place of sitting MP Rajendra Agarwal.

BJP is trying to put up a massive show of strength at the public rally at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, getting people from nearby Lok Sabha seats, like Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Kairana .

UP BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary said, “PM Modi will participate in a public event tomorrow. The election campaign for the first phase has begun... PM Modi will address a public meeting and give a record of the past 10 years of his government...”

RLD’s presence

The rally will be jointly addressed by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Singh Chaudhary who left opposition INDIA alliance to join the NDA fold last month after the Modi government decided to confer his grandfather Chaudhary Charan Singh, a tall Jat leader, with the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.

The coming together of the two parties is expected to politically help the NDA at a time when the farmer community have been agitating against the Centre.

Achievements

The BJP sources stated that the campaigning will focus on achievements of the double-engine government, of Modi’s at the Centre and Yogi’s in the State, to not only take the UP out of sick State category but also how the country has progressed by leaps and bounds under the PM including feats such as India becoming fifth largest economy of the world.

Contrary to the other BJP PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who would opt for different locations to begin his poll campaign each time, like when in 2004 he began his campaign from Patna, Modi, even as the BJP’s PM-candidate in 2014, has been kickstarting general election campaign from the Western UP itself. It may be also because polling starts in this region, and before election process moves to other parts of the State.

Incidentally, polling for Meerut seat has been clubbed with seven other nearby constituencies — Amroha, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh, and Mathura — in the second phase on April 26, as per the Election Commission’s poll schedule.

However, 8 parliamentary constituencies — Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzzafarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Muradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit — will got to polls in the first phase of polling on April 19. Overall, the elections to 80 Lok Sabha seats of UP, of which 73 were won by the BJP-lead NDA, is spread across all seven phases of elections ending on June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

The PM’s whirlwind campaigning schedule across the country will take him to Uttarakhand on April 2.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW