Amid shutdown, PM Modi to address Panchayati Raj Sammelan in Jamshedpur

Union ministers, BJP MPs and office bearers will be amid the rural folk listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address on the Panchayati Raj Day in Jharkhand when he is likely to flag his government’s pro-village credentials.

They have been asked to listen to the address, to be broadcast live by Doordarshan, amidst villagers and their representatives and interact with them in what is being projected as a major drive by the party to reach out to rural India.

Party chief Amit Shah will interact with villagers in Ganoli, Ghaziabad.

There is a view in the party that while it continues to enjoy support in urban India, it needs to bolster efforts to build itself in rural areas.

Its Lok Sabha members, including ministers, will be in their constituencies, while the Rajya Sabha members will be present in different states, party spokesperson Anil Baluni said.

Uttar Pradesh, which goes to assembly polls early next year, has been given top priority with several union ministers belonging to the Upper House, including Arun Jaitley, Smriti Irani, Suresh Prabhu and Manohar Parrikar, likely to be spending the day there, party sources said.

Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmendra Pradhan will be in Bihar.

Modi’s speech will bring the curtains down on the 11-day ‘Gram Uday se Bharat Uday’ programme launched by the Prime Minister on Dalit icon B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14 from his birthplace Mhow in Madhya Pradesh.

“The Prime Minister believes that India cannot be developed without the development of its villages. Their progress is at the centre of his vision and that is why so many welfare and policy measures have been taken by the government,” party’s national secretary Shrikant Sharma said while talking about the programme.