PM Modi to address rally in Ajmer on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in Ajmer in Rajasthan on Saturday, marking the conclusion of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's state-wide yatra ahead of assembly elections in the state.

Earlier, Modi was scheduled to visit Brahma temple in Pushkar town but now he will only attend the Ajmer rally.

Raje, BJP state president Madan Lal Saini and other leaders reviewed on Friday the preparations for the rally to be held at Kayad Vishram Sthali on the outskirts of Ajmer where party leaders claimed nearly three lakh people would come.

"This will be a historic rally of the prime minister which will be participated by a large number of people," Onkar Singh Lakhawat, the chairman of Rajasthan Heritage Preservation and Promotion Authority, said.

He said the party workers were "fully geared up and filled with enthusiasm" for the rally.

The rally marks the completion of Raje's 'Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra' which she had begun from Rajsamand's Charbhujanath temple.

Ajmer District Collector Arti Dogra said the prime minister will arrive in a helicopter at Kayad Vishram Sthali from Jaipur at 1300 hours and return to Jaipur after the programme.

There is no schedule for Brahma temple visit in Pushkar, she asserted.

Amin Pathan, the chairman of Ajmer Dargah Committee, said he has urged the members of the minority community to attend the Modi's rally in large numbers.

The state Primary and Secondary Education minister Vasudev Devnani, who represents Ajmer North assembly constituency, has been campaigning in the area and inviting people to attend the rally.

"A large number of people will come to attend the PM's rally which is significant ahead of the polls," Devnani said.

Ajmer district has eight assembly constituencies and seven of them are represented by BJP MLAs while the Congress has one seat of Nasirabad.

The ruling party, which had lost the Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency to Congress in bypolls held earlier this year, is trying to build a favourable atmosphere and mood among the voters by holding the rally of Modi, who had addressed an election rally in Ajmer in 2013 also.

The Congress had won the Ajmer Lok Sabha seat by defeating BJP's Ramswaroop Lamba who is the son of former Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat. The seat went to bypoll after the then sitting MP Sanwar Lal Jat died due to cardiac arrest last year.

The assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year.