Jammu and Kashmir: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir in March and address a public rally in the Anantnag district as part of the BJP’s election campaign for the Lok Sabha elections due April-May this year, party sources said on Tuesday (February 27). The proposed visit will be the Prime Minister’s first visit to the Kashmir Valley after the historic abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
"The prime minister's public rally is scheduled in Anantnag district next month," the BJP sources said.
"While the exact date is yet to be finalised, the rally will take place any day between March 14 to 17," the sources said.
The party is awaiting final dates from the Prime Minister's Office, they added.
BJP’s focus on Anantnag-Rajouri
The BJP is laying a heavy focus on the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat which comprises of the south Kashmir areas of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag, and Rajouri-Poonch areas in Jammu.
Before delimitation of the constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, Anantnag seat comprised only of the four south Kashmir districts -- Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag.
The seat was previously bagged by National Conference’s Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Prime Minister’s likely visit will be the first to the Kashmir Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories of J-K and Ladakh in August 2019.
However, this would be PM Modi’s second visit to J-K in two months. He had addressed a public rally in Jammu on February 20 during which he had launched several developmental projects worth Rs 32,000 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
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