PM Modi to hold rally in his constituency Varanasi today

Modi is expected to hold two more election meetings here, one each on Sunday and Monday

With focus shifting to the final phase of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hitting the campaign trail in his Lok Sabha constituency on Saturday.

"Modi will arrive in the morning at around 9 o'clock and offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath and Kaal Bhairav temples before leaving for Jaunpur where he is scheduled to hold an election rally.

"The Prime Minister will be back in his parliamentary constituency in the evening to address a public meeting," BJP national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav said.

Earlier, there were reports that Modi was to arrive in the evening and, after visiting the temples, head straight for his first rally in the city during the Assembly polls. 

The Prime Minister is expected to hold two more election meetings here, one each on Sunday and Monday.

Top leaders of the party and members of the Union council of ministers have been camping in the city to galvanise public support in favour of the BJP, which is aiming at a revival in the state where it had been in decline for more than a decade before making a dramatic comeback in the 2014 general elections when it won a stunning 71 Lok Sabha seats in UP, its best-ever performance till date.

The ancient temple town is bracing for hectic electioneering on Saturday as besides Modi's visit, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi are scheduled to hold a joint road show criss-crossing through a major part of the city while BSP supremo Mayawati will be holding a rally on the outskirts.

Heavy deployment of forces is in place in the district where voting will be held for all the seven Assembly segments, five of them falling in the PM's Lok Sabha constituency, on March 8.