PM Modi to address mega meet of BJP workers in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on September 25

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a large gathering of BJP workers here on September 25 to mark the formal culmination of the party’s five ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’ being held to reach out to the masses before the year-end assembly polls in MP, a party leader said on Thursday.

This will be Modi’s third visit to the state in the past 45 days, an indication of the BJP’s attempt to retain power in the central state by leveraging his popularity.

“Modiji is going to address a 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh' at Jamboree Maidan in Bhopal on September 25, the birth anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyaya (Bharatiya Jana Sangh co-founder),” state BJP media cell in-charge Ashish Agrawal told PTI on Thursday. Bharatiya Jana Sangh was the forerunner to the BJP.

He said the final minute-to-minute programme is not yet out.

The BJP has set an ambitious target of cobbling up 10 lakh people for Modi’s address, said party insiders. With the mega event, it wants to showcase its strength ahead of the polls, they said.

The BJP rolled out five yatras – mass contact programme – early this month, with party president JP Nadda flagging off the first one from Chitrakoot in Satna on September 3.

These yatras are meant to cover more than 10,500 kilometres in 210 of the state’s 230 assembly constituencies before culminating into a mega workers' meet in Bhopal on September 25, party leaders said.

In the run-up to the MP assembly polls, the BJP has come up with the slogan “abki bar 150 par” (victory in more than 150 seats this time).

In the November 2018 assembly polls, the Congress won 114 of the state’s 230 seats, while the BJP finished second with 109 seats.

The Congress formed a coalition government with the support of Independents, BSP, and SP under Kamal Nath. However, it collapsed after 15 months when a string of Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, now a Union minister, joined the BJP, paving the way for the return of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister.