Amit Shah to address BJP's OBC Morcha meet on CM Gehlot's home turf Jodhpur

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Saturday address the valedictory session of a national-level meeting of the BJP's OBC Morcha in Jodhpur, the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Shah is also scheduled to deliver the inaugural address at a meeting of the BJP's booth-level workers in Jodhpur.

The home minister will arrive at the Air Force station in Jaisalmer on Friday evening. He will interact with BSF officials at the south sector headquarters in Dabla (Jaisalmer) and spend the night at the BSF Officers' Institute.

Shah will visit the Tanot Mata temple in Jaisalmer on Saturday morning before leaving for Jodhpur.

In Jodhpur, he will address the valedictory session of the BJP OBC Morcha's national working committee meeting at a city hotel.

Shah will be accorded a grand welcome and over 1,500 party workers in saffron turbans on motorcycles will escort him to the venue of the meeting from the airport in the form of a rally, party officials said.

National president of the BJP OBC morcha K Laxman, Union Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav, and the BJP's Rajasthan unit chief Satish Poonia inaugurated the two-day working committee meeting on Friday morning.

Soon after the OBC Morcha meeting, Shah will address BJP's booth-level workers at Jodhpur's Dussehra Ground. The party is mobilising its booth-level workers from the entire division for the meeting.

"The party workers' meeting is going to be historic," a BJP leader told PTI.

The national working committee meet of the BJP's OBC Morcha in Jodhpur is aimed at strengthening the party's OBC vote bank in the state ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.

Jodhpur is the home town of Gehlot, who also belongs to the OBC category.

The BJP also wants to measure its strength in the state's western part ahead of the elections.

Known locally as Marwar, Jodhpur is the biggest division of Rajasthan and comprises six districts Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Sirohi, and Pali.

Of the 200 Assembly constituencies, 33 are in Jodhpur division, including 10 in Jodhpur district. Of these, the BJP currently holds 14 seats, the Congress 17, while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and Independents hold one seat each.

"OBC is a vast community. It is with the BJP ideology. This is for the first time in the BJP regime that we have 27 ministers from this community. Also the OBC commission has been given constitutional recognition by the Narendra Modi government," Rajasthan BJP chief Poonia said.