Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers virtually across 10 lakh booths in the country from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, where Assembly polls are due by the year-end.
Interacting with 3,000 BJP workers at the ‘Mera Booth, Sabse Majboot’ programme organised at the Kamla Nehru Stadium in the state capital, PM Modi said, “The land of Madhya Pradesh has played a huge role in making BJP the largest political party.”
Modi added, “Today, I am addressing around 10 lakh booth workers of the BJP virtually. No such virtual programme in such an organised manner has ever taken place in the history of any political party.”
The PM interacted with 3,000 party workers selected from across the country who have made effective contributions in empowering their booths under the party’s “Mera Booth Sabse Majboot” programme.
Replying to questions posed by party workers, PM Modi said that BJP is not a party where its people sit in air-conditioned rooms and issue diktats. “BJP workers are working tirelessly at the ground level. There is no scope for any ‘tu tu-mai mai’ at the booth level. Serving people should be the mantra of booth-level politics,” PM Modi said.
This is PM Modi’s first public address after returning from his six-day visit to the US and Egypt. On Monday, he returned to India and on Tuesday, he reached Madhya Pradesh.
BJP national president JP Nadda and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were also present at the programme.
Ahead of the interaction, in a tweet, Modi wrote in Hindi: “I will get an opportunity to interact with lakhs of dedicated workers under ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ programme. This opportunity will further empower their resolve for a developed India. ”
Earlier, PM Modi flagged off five Vande Bharat trains, with two of them being for Madhya Pradesh, from Bhopal’s Rani Kamlapati railway station. These five trains will improve connectivity in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar and Jharkhand. This is also the first time that so many Vande Bharat trains were launched in a day.
As per the PMO, the five trains that have been launched are Rani Kamalapati-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express, Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express, Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express.
Weather plays truant
PM Modi was scheduled to reach the Rani Kamalapati railway station by helicopter from Bhopal airport on Tuesday morning, but because of heavy rain warning he left for the venue by road, state BJP media in-charge Ashish Agrawal said.
Due to bad weather, Modi’s visit to tribal-dominated Shahdol district was postponed, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday. The prime minister has postponed his visit to the tribal-dominated district because of warning of heavy rains and keeping in mind inconvenience the downpour may cause to people coming to attend the event, the chief minister said in a statement.
A new date for his visit will be announced soon, he added.