BJP national president Amit Shah will virtually sound the poll bugle in the State on Monday. He will be addressing two crucial meetings in both Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Mr. Shah’s visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the bad blood between the BJP and its erstwhile ally, the TDP, for the last one year.
Security tightened
In view of the high-profile visit, the Police Department is leaving nothing to chance and is taking extra care to provide security to Mr. Shah, who enjoys Z-plus cover, particularly in the backdrop of the alleged attack on his convoy during his visit to Tirupati in May 2018.
Mr. Shah will reach Vizianagaram by helicopter at 10.40 a.m. to participate in the Shakti Kendra Pramukh Sammelan of the North Andhra cluster, comprising the Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Anakapalli, and Araku parliamentary constituencies. “He will interact with senior leaders for about two hours on the strategy to be adopted in the run-up to the elections,” says party State treasurer P. Sanyasi Raju.
“The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has given more than ₹50,000 crore in the last four years for the development of the State. But the TDP government in the State has changed the names of many Central schemes and tried to project BJP as a villain. Mr. Shah will explain the benefits extended to the State and the ways of countering the TDP’s vicious campaign,” he said. In Srikakulam district, Mr. Shah will address a public meeting on the Jagannath Ratha Yatra grounds at Palasa at about 1.15 p.m.
Bus yatra
“After the meeting, Mr. Shah will formally launch the Praja Chaitanya Yatra, a bus tour of party State president Kanna Lakshminarayana, which is being undertaken with the tag line, ‘Satyameva Jayate’. The aim is to place the facts before the people and counter the TDP’s attack,” according to party’s Srikakulam Parliament wing in-charge B. Shiva Prasad Reddy and North Andhra Shakti Kendra Vistarak S. Durgaprasad.
Mr. Lakshminarayana would tour Tekkali, Narasannapeta and Srikakulam on Monday evening, and Etcherla, Ponduru, Rajam, Palakonda, Veeraghattam and other areas on Tuesday.
