LS polls: BJP to hold 1,000 rallies in Maharashtra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will be among BJP's star campaigners in the state where the party has planned about 1,000 election rallies.

The BJP will hold about 1,000 rallies in Maharashtra where polling for the 48 Lok Sabha seats will take place in four phases starting April 11, said the party's state unit spokesperson Keshav Upadhye.

Speaking to reporters here, he said besides Modi, Shah and Fadnavis, Maharashtra BJP president Raosaheb Danve and several state and central leaders of the party will campaign for saffron alliance candidates in the state.

Upadhye's said Modi's first public rally will be held in Wardha on April 1 and he will also address election meetings for BJP-Shiv Sena candidates in other constituencies.

Fadnavis, who started election campaigning in Kolhapur on March 24, will address over 75 rallies across the state.

"Along with Amit Shah, Union minister Nitin Gadkari will also be a part of the campaigning. While Raosaheb will contest from Jalna, he will hold rallies in all constituencies in the state," Upadhye said.

He said other state leaders who will address rallies are Chandrakant Patil, Eknath Khadse, Pankaja Munde and Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Central and state-level BJP leaders who are expected to take part in rallies in Maharashtra are Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani, Yogi Adityanath, Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Raman Singh and Keshav Prasad Maurya, the spokesman said.

Other leaders from Maharashtra who will take part in campaign rallies include Girish Bapat, Atul Bhatkalkar, Ashish Shelar, Madhav Bhandari and Kantatai Nalvade, he said.