Kovind on two-day UP visit from Thursday

President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive here on Thursday on a two-day visit, his first since ascending to the highest constitutional office in the country.

He will also visit his home town during the visit. Elaborate arrangements are being made in the state capital to receive the President and security has also been beefed up.

The President will arrive in a special Indian Air Force plane at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport here around 3 p.m. on Thursday where he will be received by Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and some Ministers.

He will be driven straight to Raj Bhawan where he would briefly rest and then go to the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan where the state government has organised a public felicitation event for the President, who hails from Kanpur rural.

More than 1,500 people have been invited for the function, an official said.

Breaking protocol, Kovind will drive to the 5, Kalidas Marg residence of Adityanath at night for dinner.

He will meet dignitaries and other people from the political spectrum on Friday before leaving for Kanpur in the afternoon in a chopper. The President will return later in the evening to Lucknow and then fly back to New Delhi.

The last time Kovind was in town was on June 25 as the National Democratic Alliance presidential nominee.

--IANS

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