PM Modi to attend concluding ceremony of Parivartan Yatras in Chhattisgarh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the closing ceremony of two ‘Parivartan Yatras’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bilaspur town in poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Saturday, a party leader said. This is Prime Minister Modi’s third visit to the Congress-ruled state, which is facing assembly elections this year at the end of the year, in the past three months. The Prime Minister will address the ‘Parivartan Mahasankalp’ rally, the closing ceremony of two Parivartan Yatras, at the Science College premises at 2 pm, BJP state chief Arun Sao told reporters on Friday.

While the first Parivartan Yatra was rolled out from Dantewada (south Chhattisgarh) on September 12, the second was rolled out from Jashpur (north Chhattisgarh) on September 15, he said. Both yatras saw 83 ‘Swagat Sabhas’ (welcome meetings), four roadshows and several public meetings before culminating in Bilaspur, covering a distance of over 3,000 km over 87 assembly segments (out of total 90), he said. Bijapur, Sukma and Antagarh constituencies (all Maoist-affected) are not included in the itinerary, but people belonging to these constituencies were involved in the yatra as it passed through the neighboring constituencies.

“Even rainfall at several places could not dampen the morale of the party leaders and workers and they enthusiastically participated in the two yatras, which also evoked huge response from the people,” he said. The two yatras, in which some 50 million people participated, turned the wave of change into a storm, Sao said, exuding confidence that Congress will be removed from power in the coming elections. According to police, massive security has been put in place at the venue of the programme. A total of 1,500 security personnel from the police, Special Protection Group (SPG), Chhattisgarh Armed Force, National Security Guard and Home Guard will be deployed. In view of the Prime Minister’s visit, an area within a radius of three kilometers from the city has been declared a “no-flying zone” and anti-drone guns have also been deployed, a police official said. In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress inflicted a massive defeat on the BJP, which had been in power for 15 years under Raman Singh. The Congress had won 68 constituencies and the BJP only 15. The Congress currently has 71 seats. The saffron party had last month released its first list of candidates for 21 seats, which it had ceded to Congress in the last polls, even as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the schedule of the upcoming parliamentary elections due later this year.