Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony of multiple developmental projects in Jammu on Tuesday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kashmir valley next week and address a public rally ahead of Lok Sabha polls 2024.
This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to the Kashmir Valley since his government abrogated Article 370, that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories in August 2019.
Last time, the prime minister was in the valley in February 2019 ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The prime minister is scheduled to address a public rally in Srinagar on March 7 and launch various schemes, according to a report which added that the rally will be held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre along the picturesque Dal Lake.
“It was a longstanding demand of people here that the Prime Minister come and address them. Now on March 7, he will be addressing a rally,” NDTV quoted Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina as saying.
Other reports by news agency PTI, and local newspaper Greater Kashmir suggested that the rally will be held in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The public rally is part of BJP’s election campaign for the forthcoming general polls, news agency PTI quoted sources saying that the Anantnag rally will be held between March 7 and 15.
While the National Conference holds three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir Valley, the BJP won two seats in Jammu region in 2019. The lone seat in Ladakh is also with the BJP.
The BJP is focussing on the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat which comprises of the south Kashmir areas of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag, and Rajouri-Poonch areas in Jammu. Before delimitation, the Anantnag seat comprised only of the four south Kashmir districts – Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag.
The seat was won by National Conference’s Justice Hasnain Masoodi (retd) in 2019.
This would be PM Modi’s second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in less than a month. The PM addressed a public rally in Jammu on February 20 during which he also launched development projects worth over ₹32,000 crore across the country.
The Bhartiya Janata Party has set a target of 370 seats and 400 + for the NDA. Prime Minister Modi had for the first time mentioned the target 370 while speaking at the Jammu rally.
The prime minister has been on a whirlwind tour of the country ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha polls next month. His speeches focus on ‘Modi’s Guarantees’ in which he highlight how his government’s welfare schemes are not just promises but have in fact benefited beneficiaries.
While the Kashmir visit is aimed at Lok Sabha polls, it also assumes significance given the state assembly election scheduled after Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The erstwhile state has been under President’s rule since July 2018 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-People’s Democratic Party alliance government collapsed.
The last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014.
This report is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
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