Modi to address rally in UP

Prime minister Narendra Modi will be addressing a public rally in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, officials said.

After a brief stopover in Saharanpur, he will fly to neighbouring Uttarakhand, where he would call on his ailing guru Swami Dayanand Giri at Shishamjhadi in Rishikesh. He will then fly to Chandigarh where he has engagements, an official said IANS.

The officials said that all security and other arrangements have been completed.

Teams of intelligence and anti-terror squad (ATS) have fanned out in the region to keep an eye on anti-social elements and the area near Sarurpur Gada on Ambala road where the prime minister will be addressing the rally has been sanitized by the Special Protection Group (SPG).

Besides, senior Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have also reached Saharanpur to welcome the prime minister. Kairana MP Hukum Singh, Saharanpur MP Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma, BJP's legislator from the city Rajiv Gumber and other state functionaries will welcome Modi.

District Magistrate Pawan Kumar said all preparations were complete for prime minister's Friday visit. The entire area has been barricaded and is being decorated for Modi's rally.

This would be Modi's first public rally in Uttar Pradesh after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.