BJP's national president, JP Nadda, is set to inaugurate the party's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday (September 3). The yatra aims to connect with the people and seek their blessings as the state prepares for upcoming assembly elections later this year. The journey will commence from the sacred city of Chitrakoot in Satna district, marking the beginning of political campaigning in the BJP-ruled state.
"Naddaji is scheduled to arrive in Chitrakoot around 10 AM. "He will attend a launch function around 11 AM, and flag it off at noon," Satna BJP district president Satish Sharma was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.
"Four such yatras will be taken out from other places in the next week," according to another party official. During the yatras, the BJP will hold large public meetings to reach out to the people and highlight the welfare schemes of the Centre and states, as well as their accomplishments, PTI reported.
According to the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a meeting of BJP workers on September 25 in Bhopal to mark the culmination of these five mass-contact programmes, according to party leaders.
The late Deendayal Upadhyaya, a top leader of the Bharatiya Janata Sangh, which later became the BJP, was born on September 25.
The yatra from Chitrakoot will pass through Madhya Pradesh's Vindhya region, the report said. The BJP won 24 of the 30 seats in this region in the 2018 assembly elections.
According to BJP leaders, these five yatras will cover more than 10,500 kilometres, passing through 210 of MP's 230 assembly constituencies before arriving in Bhopal, it added.
Though they will arrive in the state capital on September 21, the yatras will conclude on September 25 with a 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh,' according to the report.
While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was at the forefront of such programmes in the run-up to the last assembly elections, the BJP central leadership has decided to include Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nitin Gadkari in this time's yatras.
The Congress won 114 of the 230 seats in the November 2018 MP assembly elections, while the BJP came in second with 109.
Under Kamal Nath, the Congress formed a coalition government with the support of independents, the BSP, and the SP. After 15 months, however, a slew of Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, now a Union minister, defected to the BJP, paving the way for Chouhan's return as CM.