Prime Minister Narendra Modi would launch the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Meerut’s Potato Research Institute ground on Sunday, showcasing its new alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) with its chief Jayant Chaudhary by his side.
Since this is the first joint rally of the BJP-RLD, the leaders of both parties claimed that the attendance at the Modi rally would be more than 3 lakh people.
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The RLD has presence among Jat voters in several west UP regions and the BJP has allotted two Lok Sabha seats in west UP—Bijnor and Baghpat—to its new ally.
The fact that Modi chose Meerut for the launch of the campaign has its own meaning as besides being the gateway of west UP, Meerut is the constituency from where BJP would be using a mix of development and Hindutva.
It is also the constituency from where the BJP has fielded Arun Govil, an actor who became a household name after playing Lord Ram in the superhit TV serial ‘Ramayana’.
{{/usCountry}}It is also the constituency from where the BJP has fielded Arun Govil, an actor who became a household name after playing Lord Ram in the superhit TV serial ‘Ramayana’.
{{/usCountry}}Govil was also present for the January 22 Ram temple inauguration by the PM in Ayodhya. The PM’s rally would also coincide with a parallel show of strength by the opposition leaders in Delhi and thus the PM is expected to serve a larger message through the rally, party leaders said.
UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, a Jat leader from west UP, said PM Modi would launch the party’s election campaign from Meerut and present the BJP’s 10-year report card before the country.
“The first phase of election campaign will begin with PM’s rally from Meerut in west UP. The PM has always lived up to his commitments and he would thus use the occasion to showcase ‘jo kaha wo kiya (we honoured our commitments)’ and it is a matter of great pride for us,” said Chaudhary.
The PM rally would happen a day after former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, the grandfather of RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, was conferred the Bharat Ratna, country’s highest civilian award and RLD leaders elated at the conferment now said that the rally would prove to be a milestone.
“The message from this joint rally would go far. Now there is no opposition, and the June 4 results would prove as much,” said RLD leader Rohit Agarwal. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath praised the award for Chaudhary Charan Singh.
“Chaudhary Saheb’s unforgettable works dedicated to the overall upliftment of villages, poor, deprived, exploited and the farmers enriched Indian politics with exemplary democratic ideals,” said Yogi who visited Meerut on Wednesday ahead of PM’s visit.
Party leaders admitted that the BJP would use the PM’s rally to connect not just with Meerut but also with adjoining constituencies of Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Kairana, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Nagina, Baghpat and Pilibhit too.
“The message from Modi-Yogi rally goes far and wide and thus while it is true that the first phase polls would start from west UP, this rally would actually set the stage big time,” said UP BJP secretary Chandramohan.
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UP minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said: “We all will be there for the historic rally by PM Modi and which will set the stage for Mission 80 in UP.”
Polling in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Bijnor, Nageena, Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit constituencies will take place in the first phase on April 19 while Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar will see polling in the second phase on April 26.
The local administration has beefed up security measures ahead of the prime minister’s Sunday rally. Flying of drones, kites or balloons in an eight-km radius from the venue of the rally has been banned, police officers said. The party’s state general secretary Anoop Gupta has been given the responsibility of coordinating the PM’s rally.