Over 2 lakh people to attend PM's first campaign rally in Jammu

Over two lakh people will attend the rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Akhnoor, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick-start the BJP's election campaign in the state, party state president Ravinder Raina said Tuesday.

The BJP will retain all three Lok Sabha seats of Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh despite the coming together of "traitors" in the state, Raina asserted.

The senior leader said the party would talk to its former minister and Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS) founder Choudhary Lal Singh, who has filed nomination papers from the Jammu parliamentary constituency, for withdrawal of his candidature in the larger interest of the Dogra unity and strengthening of nationalist forces.

"The prime minister has accepted our invitation and is addressing the first election rally at Akhnoor in the outskirts of Jammu on March 28. We are confident of winning all the three seats of Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh with bigger margins than the 2014 Lok Sabha polls," Raina told reporters here.

Jammu and Baramulla parliamentary constituencies are going to polls in the first phase on April 11 and have received a record number of 39 nominations. Prominent faces include incumbent BJP MP Jugal Kishore, National Conference-supported Congress candidate Raman Bhalla, Lal Singh and National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh.

The PDP said it decided against fielding any candidate from the twin seats of Jammu and Udhampur to ensure that the secular votes are not divided.

The BJP leader termed the Congress, National Conference and the PDP a "coalition of traitors". He also used a proverb for the parties to allege that thieves stick together: "Chor chor mousere bhai."