The prime minister's temple run comes as the BJP is set to contest the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, both ruled by his party.
Diwali and the days leading up to it will be jam-packed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The prime minister’s itinerary for the festive season includes trips to Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. While his usual Diwali tradition is to spend a day with the armed forces, but this year it is more around temple-hopping.
PM Modi is in his home state Gujarat on October 19-20, will visit Kedarnath and Badrinath on October 21 and 22 and will be in Ayodhya for the ‘Deepotsav’ celebrations for the first time on October 23, a day before Diwali.
During his Gujarat visit, he will inaugurate the Defence Expo in Gandhinagar and visit Adaldaj, Junagarh and Rajkot to unveil various development projects. The PM will also visit Kevadia and Vyara during his visit.
As per the tentative schedule, the prime minister will leave Delhi for Kedarnath early morning on October 21. After the darshan there, he will lay the foundation of a ropeway project. He is also expected to inspect a number of ongoing projects before heading to Badrinath. After prayers there, he will carry out a similar inspection of development works.
The prime minister will next visit Ayodhya to take part in the Deepotsav celebrations at ‘Ram Ki Paidi’ on Sunday, October 23, the Diwali eve. PM Modi is also expected to offer prayers at the Ram temple.
As per the itinerary, after offering prayers to Sri Ram Lalla Virajman at around 5 pm on Sunday, PM Modi will also be conducting an inspection of the construction work of the Ram Mandir being spearheaded by the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. This will be followed by an aarti at the new Saryu ghat at around 6:30 pm.
He will then proceed to take part in Deepotsav celebrations at Ram Ki Paidi ghat at 6:40 pm which will be followed by green digital fireworks at the new Saryu Ghat.
As per reports, the PM will also visit the border on Diwali day to spend a day with the soldiers. The details of that visit and the location are kept a secret.
The temple run comes as the BJP is set to contest the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, both ruled by his party.
While dates for Himachal have been announced — voting on November 12 and counting on December 8 — the Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for Gujarat, where polls are due before the end of the year.
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 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi - File Photo")
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