shimla: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to kickstart BJP's election campaign in Himachal Pradesh on September 24—a massive show of strength the party proposes in the run up to the assembly polls slated in November 2022.
This will be the Prime Minister's third visit in a row after he addressed a mammoth rally at Paddal ground of Mandi on December 27 when the Jai Ram Thakur government had completed four years in power.
Later, he held road shows at Shimla's historic Ridge Maidan and Dharamshala this year.
State BJP president Suresh Kashyap, informing about the Prime Minister's proposed visit on September 27, said, "Modi ji will address the first ever Mahagarjana rally of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM)."
One lakh youth from across the state will reach this rally.
Kashyap said that no party worker or supporter above 40 years of age will participate in this rally. This will be a unique show in its type.
"Once again the Karmaveer Prime Minister of Kashi, Narendra Modi is coming to Choti Kashi to have darshan of Baba Bholenath," said Kashyap.
The rally also holds significance in view of the Congress's victory in Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll last year when the BJP lost its seat to Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra Singh's wife in view of sympathy factor and because of internal squabbles within the BJP. The defeat caused quite an embarrassment to the Chief Minister who hails from Mandi and also left the party workers demoralised.
"That was a jolt to the BJP," admits Trilok Jamwal, a senior BJP leader but he added that later the party's victory in four states of UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa helped to boost up the image.
Kashyap said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an unbreakable relationship with Himachal Pradesh and has always given priority to the development of the state. "Modi's attachment to Himachal can be gauged from the fact that he has visited Himachal as PM most of the times. Modi is fulfilling what former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had dreamed for Himachal."
There will be two more visits of the Prime Minister in Himachal Pradesh one of which will be Bilaspur --where he will inaugurate the AIIMS in the home district of BJP National President and parliamentary constituency of Information and Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur.