A host of dignitaries, including defence minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu and several senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, will participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday celebrations in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The celebrations will mark the launch of the BJP’s month-long “Seva Sankalp Abhiyan” to commemorate Modi’s 25 years in public service, first as Gujarat chief minister and then as PM.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national president Hemang Joshi will be present in Vadnagar to welcome the yatris. Chaurasia said the yatra will run from September 17 to October 17.
Rajnath Singh and Adityanath will flag off the “Seva Sankalp Bike Yatra” from Varanasi’s Rudraksh International Convention Centre on September 17 to Gujarat’s Vadnagar, Modi’s birthplace, in the presence of Naidu, Union minister Chirag Paswan and UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary, said Kashi region BJP chief Ashok Chaurasia. UP deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and programme convenor VD Sharma, the Khajuraho MP, will also be present, the people said. Joshi said youngsters from across the country will participate in the journey as Seva Yatris. Lok Sabha MP VD Sharma, the national in-charge of the Vadnagar-Varanasi bike rally, said, “The flag-off event in Vadnagar will be attended by Amit Shah, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, state unit BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Union minister Anupriya Patel among others.”
