From ‘adopted’ home state to the ‘native’ home state: as soon as the high-voltage Assembly election campaign in Uttar Pradesh ends on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to head to his home state of Gujarat.

He will arrive on Tuesday on a two-day visit to Gujarat which is set to go to Assembly polls later this year.

This will be the Prime Minister's seventh visit to Gujarat since September 2016 when he promised the party and the people to be “available” more frequently. In view of ensuing elections, each of his visits to Gujarat assumes political importance and is viewed as part of his efforts to retain hold on his first and foremost political fortress ahead of the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Since he left for New Delhi as the PM in May 2014, the BJP has seen an erosion of its socio-political-economic base in Gujarat. A number of agitations by different sections of the society on the reservation and other critical issues have rocked the ruling party like never before since 1995 when it first tasted power in the saffron state it sees as its “laboratory”.

On Tuesday afternoon, the PM will arrive in south Gujarat district of Bharuch to inaugurate an industrial plant and a meet at Dahej under the auspices of ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL), part of the ONGC Group. He will also dedicate to the people a new bridge on the Narmada River and address a public meeting.

After a night halt at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar, Modi will, on Wednesday, seek the blessings of Lord Somnath at the world-famous Temple in the electorally important Saurashtra region and later address around 6,000 women sarpanches from across India on the occasion of International Women’s Day, in Gandhinagar.

He will return to New Delhi on Wednesday evening.

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