Modi to address rally in Punjab's Gurdaspur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Punjab's Gurdaspur town on Thursday as part of the BJP's campaign to hold 100 rallies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Modi's rally will kickstart the election campaign for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Punjab.

The Prime Minister will address the rally at the PUDA ground in Gurdaspur, around 225 km from here.

The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat was won by the Congress in a by-election in October 2017. Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar represents Gurdaspur in the Lok Sabha.

"We have made elaborate arrangements for the public rally. Prime Minister Modi has taken a number of steps for the benefit of Punjabis and Sikhs. It is going to be a mega rally in Gurdaspur," BJP Punjab unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Shwet Malik said.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the event.

The Prime Minister, after addressing the rally, will go to Jalandhar to inaugurate the 106th session of the Indian Science Congress at the Lovely Professional University (LPU).

The SAD-BJP alliance lost the February 2017 assembly elections in Punjab badly after remaining in power in the state for 10 years (2007-2017). In fact, the alliance finished a poor third, even behind the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in the Assembly polls.

The Congress has been in power in the state since March 2017 and the SAD-BJP alliance faces an uphill task in the forthcoming elections against the Congress and the AAP.

The AAP won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014 despite a Modi wave in other parts of the country.

The Congress has four Lok Sabha members while the SAD also has four. The BJP has only one Lok Sabha member from Punjab.

--IANS

js/mr