Chhatisgarh Assembly Elections: Modi and Gandhi to address rallies today

Merely two days left for the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi all set to address rallies on Friday.

Narendra Modi is supposed to address a public meeting in Bastar district headquarters, Jagdalpur, whereas, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a public rally in Pakhanjore town of Kanker district at Friday noon.

Apart from these public meetings, Mosi is likely to hold a roadshow in Chief Minister Raman Singh’s constituency Rajnandgaon. Later in the day, Rahul Gandhi will also hold a roadshow in the same constituency.

“The prime minister is scheduled to arrive at Raipur airport at 11:20 am and will take a helicopter to Jagdalpur. Following the rally, he will leave for Raipur at 2 pm and then return to Delhi,” a state BJP spokesperson said on Thursday.

Adding on, he said, “This will be the PM’s first election rally for the state assembly polls. It will add power to the party’s campaign.”

Rahul Gandhi will spend Friday night at Rajnandgaon and on Saturday, he will address rallies in Charama (Kanker district) and Kondagaon, head of Congress state communication wing Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said. Adding on he said that Gandhi would also chair a meeting of party workers in Jagdalpur.

Chief Minister Raman Singh is also expected to hold a roadshow in Rajnandgaon on Friday evening. He is pitted against the Congress’s Karuna Shukla, niece of late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The campaigning for the first phase Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections will end on Saturday.

The first phase of Chhatisgarh Assembly Elections will be held on November 12. The first phase will witness 18 seats of eight Naxal-affected districts go to state polls. Of these, 12 are Scheduled Tribe seats while one is a Scheduled Caste-reserved seat.

The ruling BJP had lost 12 of the 18 seats in the 2013 assembly elections. The remaining 72 constituencies will go to polls on November 20 and results will be declared on December 11.

A total of 1,291 candidates are in the fray for the two-phased Chhatisgarh Assembly polls.

In 2013 assembly polls, the BJP had won 49 seats, Congress 39, BSP 1 and Independent 1 in the 90-member House.

Also read: Chhattisgarh Assembly elections: ‘Achche Din’ won’t come, says PM Modi lookalike