Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the concluding ceremony of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ‘Parivartan Yatras’ in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur city on Saturday. This will be the Prime Minister’s third visit to Chhattisgarh in the last three months. Assembly elections are to be held in the state later this year. BJP state president Arun Sao said that the Prime Minister will address the ‘Parivartan Mahasankalp Rally’, the concluding ceremony of two Parivartan Yatras, at 2 pm on Saturday afternoon at the Science College grounds in Bilaspur.
According to SAW, the first Parivartan Yatra was taken out from Dantewada (Southern Chhattisgarh) on September 12, while the second was taken out from Jashpur (Northern Chhattisgarh) on September 15. He said that both the yatras covered a distance of more than three thousand kilometers in 87 assembly constituencies (out of total 90). These yatras included 83 welcome meetings, four road shows and various public meetings before concluding in Bilaspur.
According to Sao, the Naxal-hit Bijapur, Sukma and Antagarh constituencies are not included in the yatra, but when the yatra passed through nearby constituencies, people belonging to these constituencies joined it. BJP leaders said that even rain at various places during the yatra could not dampen the morale of the party leaders and workers and everyone enthusiastically participated in both the yatras.
Sao claimed that the participation of around 50 lakh people in both the yatras has turned the wave of change into a storm and Congress will be ousted from power in the state in the upcoming elections. Senior police officers of the district said that the venue of the program has been kept under security cover. He said that 1500 personnel of police, Special Protection Group (SPG), Chhattisgarh Armed Forces, National Security Guard and Home Guards have been deployed for the security of the program.
According to officials, in view of the Prime Minister’s visit, a three kilometer radius of the city has been declared a ‘no flying zone’ and anti-drone guns have also been deployed there. The Raman Singh-led BJP government was defeated by the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. BJP, which was in power for 15 years, could get only 15 seats in this election. Congress had won 68 out of 90 assembly seats in the state. Congress currently has 71 seats. BJP had released its first list of candidates for 21 seats last month. The Election Commission has not yet announced the schedule for the assembly elections.