Rohtak: BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday began his Haryana visit from Bahadurgarh and is slated to hold a series of meetings and review works undertaken by the M L Khattar government during his three-day stay.
Shah will be camping in Rohtak as the BJP is eyeing political gains from the district, which is considered as the nerve centre of the state’s politics.
The party chief, who has a packed schedule, arrived to a grand welcome in the morning at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district, which is considered the “gateway of Haryana”.
Bahadurgarh lies adjoining Rohtak, the venue of Shah’s three-day stay, which is about 70 km from Delhi.
At Bahadurgarh, Shah, was received by Khattar, some of his Cabinet colleagues including Ram Bilas Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu, Krishan Lal Panwar and state BJP President Subhash Barala.
Shah was honoured with traditional Haryanvi ‘pugri’.
The party chief will be camping in Rohtak as the ruling BJP, which came to power for the first time in Haryana, is looking to consolidate its position after being in power for almost three years.
Shah will be attending 27 programmes, including 17 meetings with BJP MLAs and others, State BJP President Subhash Barala said.
En route to Rohtak town, Shah was welcomed by party workers at eight different points. Thousands of party workers also took out a bike rally to welcome him.
Shah has a series of meetings lined up for the first day including with party office bearers, former MPs and ex-MLAs of the party.
During his stay, Shah will also be holding meetings with the state unit core group, various morchas of the party and intellectuals.
He would also inaugurate a library building in the party office at Rohtak, Barala said.
On the concluding day of his visit, Shah will address some meetings where the focus will be to work hard on ‘vistarak yojna’ (expansion plan) which was initiated across the country to strengthen BJP in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Shah will also be presented with a report card highlighting the Khattar government’s achievements during its rule, state BJP chief Barala said.
He will also take stock of implementation of the schemes related to poor.
Asked why the BJP has chosen Rohtak as the venue of Shah’s visit, Barala said, “Rohtak has been our party’s headquarter for decades. It is also the political capital of Haryana. Rohtak was also the stronghold of one of our tallest leader, late Mangal Sain”.
Notably, Rohtak is considered a stronghold of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Congress had managed to win only one Lok Sabha seat from Haryana in the 2014 parliamentary election as Hooda’s son Deepender Singh retained his Rohtak seat.
Haryana’s Health minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij said there was great enthusiasm among party workers in view of Shah’s visit.
Taking a dig at opposition Congress and INLD, both of whom have claimed that Shah’s Haryana visit will not have much impact, Vij said, “Opposition is in a disarray. Wherever Amit Shah goes the opposition goes into hibernation. The opposition tries to hide itself”.
With an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shah is travelling across states to strategise and find ways to strengthen the party at the grass-root level.
The BJP President had visited Chandigarh in May.
The BJP chief is on a 110-day country-wide tour which began in Jammu in April this year.
—PTI