NEW DELHI: After a hectic tour of the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will again have his hands full as he will be spearhead the BJP’s election campaign in Haryana and Maharashtra.
He will start his whirlwind tour on October 4 by addressing a rally each in these states.
In the absence of a chief ministerial candidate for the BJP, Modi has emerged as the face of the party’s campaign in both the states. He will be on the move from October 4 till October 13, the day campaign ends. He will address rallies daily to strengthen the party’s campaign in both the states, which were ruled by the Congress.
Other senior BJP leaders will also be campaigning in these two states. The BJP is putting all its might for the October 15 elections as the recent bypoll results were not in favour of the party.
The outcome of Haryana and Maharashtra elections would get be seen as a referendum on the Modi Government’s rule. BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said senior leader Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi would also campaign for the Assembly polls. As per the programme chalked out for the senior leaders, party chief Amit Shah will campaign five days each in Haryana and Maharashtra. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will spend four days in Haryana and five days in Maharashtra; External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who belongs to Haryana, will spend five days there and three days in Maharashtra.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who could also be a contender for the chief minister’s post in Mahrashtra in event of the BJP winning a majority, will camp in Mahrashtra during the entire campaign phase.
Among the BJP Chief Ministers, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will campaign for two days in Haryana and three days in Maharashtra; Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje will devote two days in Haryana, three days in Maharashtra; Raman Singh, Chattisgarh CM, will be in Maharashtra for three days; Gujarat CM Anandi Ben Patel will campaign for five days in Maharashtra as it has substantial Gujarati population; Goa CM Manohar Parrikar will be in his election bound neighbouring state for eight days.
In Haryana the BJP is contesting all the 90 seats, while in Maharashtra, where it severed its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena, has fielded candidates in 257 out of the 288 seats.