PM Modi to address rally in Nalbari, Assam on April 17 ahead of LS polls

Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the state on April 17 and address a rally in Nalbari ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, the minister informed further that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also visit Assam over two days-- on April 7-8 during which he is scheduled to address three rallies ahead of the seven-phased general elections.

"Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Assam on April 7 and 8. He will address three election rallies--in Hojai, Lakhimpur and Gohpur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, will visit our state on April 17 and address an election campaign rally in Nalbari," Baruah told ANI on Thursday.

He added that, for now, the schedule of Prime Minister Modi and the Union Home Minister was fixed and wasn't likely to change.

"We hope that other senior party leaders will visit Assam. Our state party unit, cadres and allies are fully geared to face the elections. Our only aim, going into these elections, is to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for a third consecutive term. We are preparing to gift at least 13 (Lok Sabha) seats from Assam to Modi-ji in his bid to return as PM," Baruah said.

Polling for the 14 seats in Assam will be held in three phases--on April 19, April 26 and May 7.

The elections to 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19. Nearly 96.8 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in the upcoming polls at over 12 lakh polling stations across the country. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won nine seats in the state, while the Congress won 3 and the All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) won one.

The remaining seat went to an Independent candidate. The BJP hogged the majority vote share at 36.4 per cent, while the Congress received 35.8 per cent of the total votes polled.

Earlier, on Thursday, PM Modi headlined a campaign event at Bihar's Jamui, which is currently represented by NDA ally and the supremo of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Chirag Paswan.

Launching a fierce attack on the INDIA bloc, PM Modi accused the Congress and the RJD of stalling development in the country while adding that the strides that the country made in the last 10 years under the NDA was only the trailer as plenty more would be accomplished if it is voted for a third term.

He said India, which was considered 'weak' under previous regimes, was showing the way to the world today.