J P Nadda kickstarts BJP’s ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatre’ in poll-bound Karnataka

CHAMARAJANAGAR, (PTI): BJP national president J P Nadda on Wednesday kick started the first part of ‘Vijay Sankapla Yatre’ here reaching out to tribal communities, as he expressed confidence about the party coming back to power in Karnataka. The yatre from four different directions across the poll-bound State, in specially designed vehicles or ”Rathas”, will be launched by the party’s Central leaders in the next couple of days.

Nadda, who visited the Male Mahadeshwara Hills, kick-started the yatre, after offering prayers at the Male Mahadeshwara temple here.

He was accompanied by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa, and party’s state president Nalin Kumar Kateel among other leaders.

Later addressing people from the Soliga tribal community, Nadda said, ”With the Vijaya Sankalpa Yatre beginning from an auspicious place and with the grace of god, I’m confident about BJP getting the blessings of the people in the upcoming Assembly polls.” He said, the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is marching ahead with strength and he has changed the political dimension of the country from ”casteism, vote bank and dynasty politics”, to taking everyone together with a moto ‘sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-sabka-vishwas-sabka-prayas’ (Together, for everyone’s growth, with everyone’s trust).

Highlighting that the country is today the fifth largest economy overtaking the British, Nadda spoke about the nation’s progress in pharma, mobile and automobile, among other sectors.

The BJP government under Modi has worked for the development of all sections of the society especially the poor and downtrodden, he said, adding that today several prominent positions in the country are occupied by personalities from the SC/ST community, and President of India Droupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community.

There has been a 190 per cent increase in the tribal budget under the BJP government at the Centre, the party president said, as he spoke about setting up Ekalavya Vidyalaya in tribal areas, and other schemes and programmes for the betterment of the tribal community, including opening of the Tribal Research Centres.

”I want to assure that under Modi, with Yediyurappa’s blessings and Bommai’s efforts we will bring changes in the lives and livelihood of the people here,” he said.

While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to flag off second yatre on March 2 from Nandagad in Belagavi district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to launch the third and fourth yatres that will start from Basavakalyana in Bidar district and Avathy in Devanahalli near Bengaluru, on March 3, in the morning and afternoon, respectively.

According to party leaders, more than 50 state and national leaders will take part in this campaign, which will cover all 31 districts and 224 constituencies of the State, where elections are due by May.

The tours will cover 8,000 km, along which the party has planned over 80 rallies, 74 public meetings and about 150 road shows, they said, adding that it is expected to ”touch” about four crore people.

The 20 days yatre will culminate with a mega rally in the district headquarters town of Davangere on March 25 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The yatre that will begin from four different places will consist of 10-12 leaders in each of them. (PTI)