Shimla: Even as the opposition Congress has not yet been able to firm-up on holding major rallies of its top leaders, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started preparing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's next visit to Chamba.
Before announcement of the state assembly polls any time after mid-October Modi wants to hold his rally at historic 'Chamba Chaugan', which had remained as official venue for internationally claimed 'Minjar Mela'.
Earlier in June 2022, Prime Minister—who was at Dharamshala for presiding over a national meeting of state Chief Secretaries, wanted to visit and launch two mega hydel projects but the visit was cancelled on account of weather uncertainties.
The party sources said though a final confirmation is still awaited from the Prime Minister's office, the party had slotted October 14 as a day for Modi visit and also a rally.
Chamba is one of the country's 117 aspirational districts, identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators from Health /Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources.
Thus, the Prime Minister wants to visit Chamba ahead of the poll announcement to take credit for having initiated major development and other programmes like financial Inclusion, skill development and strengthening of the basic infrastructure to impact Human Development Index in the lesser developed and backward district.
His 'double engine' slogan to sustain the development and infrastructure projects in Himachal Pradesh has already become BJP's tapline for the poll campaign.
The BJP sources said BJP national president J P Nadda is visiting Solan on October 15 for a two-day visit of Home Minister Amit Shah in Sirmaur district to woo hatti community, which has been given tribal status by the government as result of 70 years long struggle of the community.
Meanwhile, the Congress has also stepped-up its preparations to hold a big rally and invite Priyanka Gandhi for giving a boost to the party's poll drive. Rahul Gandhi being on Bharat Jodo yatra has not given his schedule for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh–two states going to polls shortly.
Initially, the Congress had proposed Priyanka Gandhi's rally at Solan on October 10 but now it has been changed to October 14.
Priyanka Gandhi has been a frequent visitor to Shimla as she owns a house at Chharabra, a high security area but she keeps his visits private. The congress leaders are not supposed to visit her.