NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin a two-day tour of eastern Uttar Pradesh today where he will be visiting his parliamentary constituency Varanasi and laying the foundation stone in Azamgarh for the 340-km Purvanchal Expressway.

In Azamgarh, the Prime Minister will lay the Foundation Stone of Poorvanchal Expressway which will connect several important and historical towns of eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur – with the State Capital – Lucknow.

Once this Expressway is complete, Delhi will be connected via Expressway, to several major towns and cities of the State of Uttar Pradesh, from Noida in the west, to Ghazipur in the east.

The ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party have begun a war of words here over the Rs 23,000-crore Purvanchal Expressway project which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch tomorrow in Azamgarh. The opposition party is claiming that project is the brainchild of its leader and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who laid a foundation stone for the same stretch in December 2016.

In Varanasi, the Prime Minister will dedicate, or lay the foundation stone of important projects, cumulatively worth over Rs. 900 crore.

Among the projects to be dedicated are the Varanasi City Gas Distribution Project, and the Varanasi-Ballia EMU train. The foundation stone will be laid for the Panchkoshi Parikrama Marg, and several projects under the Smart City Mission and Namaami Gange. The Prime Minister will also lay the Foundation Stone for an International Convention Centre in Varanasi.

At a separate event, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath, will release a book titled “Meri Kashi,” in the presence of the Prime Minister.