Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start his poll campaign on Sunday with a mega rally in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut where he will be seeking votes for BJP candidate and Ramayan fame Arun Govil. The rally in Meerut will also have Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary, who recently joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, sharing the dais with the prime minister.
The state is crucial for the BJP, considering it has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats, which is crucial if the party wants to achieve its target of 400. The state sends 80 MPs to the lower house.
The rally in Meerut will also see people from the Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Kairana Lok Sabha constituencies attending it. Party's state general secretary Anoop Gupta has been given the responsibility of coordinating the Prime Minister's rally.
"After the consecration of Lord Ram's idol at the temple in Ayodhya, PM Modi is starting his election campaign in the state from the constituency of Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram and is highly respected," a BJP leader told PTI.
According to RLD spokesperson Atir Rizvi, party chief Jayant Chaudhary will share the stage with BJP leaders at the rally. Chaudhary too confirmed that he will be participating in the rally.
The RLD holds a significant power in the Western UP which has a sizable Jat population. As many as 13 of the 18 districts across western UP – Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Bijnor, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Aligarh, Hathras, Agra and Moradabad – are Jat strongholds. However, since the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots between Jats and Muslims, western Uttar Pradesh has seen a resurgence of the BJP.
The RLD, had for years, been a minor player in Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, the party aligned with SP and BSP, which managed to eat into BJP votes in the West UP. In 2014, when the RLD contested 8 seats in an alliance with the Congress, it failed to win any.
The BJP is likely to raise Bharat Ratna to former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh and issues related to sugarcane growers and farmers as well as the development of Western Uttar Pradesh as campaign topics.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened in Meerut in view of the Prime Minister's visit. Flying drones, kites or balloons in an eight-km radius from the venue of the rally has been banned under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Voting in Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Kairana Lok Sabha constituencies will be in the first phase on April 19. Meerut and Baghpat will see polling in the second phase on April 26.
