Modi to begin whirlwind campaign tours in Maharashtra, Haryana from 4 Oct

New Delhi: Since the time he became prime minister he has not been on vacation even for 15 minutes, Narendra Modi said in New York. As he returns home tonight, his party BJP has made plans, with his consent to prove that he has an unmatched energy level. Beginning from 4 October, Modi will be intensively campaigning in the two poll bound states. In Haryana, he will kick off his campaign from Karnal and in Maharashtra he would begin from Kolhapur. Just as he campaigned during the parliamentary elections, taking off every morning from Gandhinagar to various parts of the country and returning there late in the night, Modi will be taking off every morning from Delhi and returning to national capital at night till 13 October when campaigning would come to an end. Senior officials handling key assignments should be prepared for late night and early morning meetings with the prime minister.[caption id=“attachment_1738729” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Besides clearing the pending work, which requires prime ministerial attention and list of appointments, Modi will launch his cherished Clean India project on 2 October with much fanfare. On Vijayadashmi, i.e., 3 October, he will break his 10-day long Navratra fast after doing Shastra Puja. He will also make an address to the nation through radio, Man Ki Baat on 3 October at 11 am in Hindi. It will be translated in all regional languages and broadcast later by local stations in the evening. He thus could not have started campaigning for his party before 4 October. The BJP has roped in all senior leaders for campaigning in Maharashtra and Haryana but the fact remains that it would be centred around Modi’s persona. Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Amit Shah will campaign for five days in Haryana and five days in Maharashtra, Rajnath Singh for four days in Haryana, five days in Maharashtra, Sushma Swaraj five days in Haryana and three days in Maharashtra, Venkaiah Naidu two days in Haryana, four days in Maharashtra, Nitin Gadkari will spend will only be in Maharashtra. Shivraj Singh Chouhan will campaign for two days in Haryana and three days in Maharashtra while Vasundhara Raje will campaign for two days in Haryana, three days in Maharashtra. On the other hand, Raman Singh will campaign for three days, Anandi Ben Patel for five days and Manohar Parrikar for eight days in Maharashtra respectively. Party veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have also been urged to campaign in both the states. The split between Shiv Sena and the BJP had officially happened hours after Modi had left for his US trip. To his relief, by the time he returns, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has changed his mind on an issue that was critical for the NDA at the Centre that his party’s sole representative in the Union cabinet, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geethe will not resign. This is for the first time when BJP on its own will be fighting on all seats. Instead of a senior partner Shiv Sena, it will have three smaller allies, to whom it will concede 31 seats and field its own candidates in 257 seats. In Haryana, BJP had contested previous assembly elections on its own after unilaterally severing ties with OP Chautala’s INLD but could win only four seats. This time, however, it is hoping to win the elections. Quite an ambitious task but parliamentary election results have taken morale of party leaders to a new high. They believe Modi magic would work yet again for the party. The Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls are the first full-fledged elections that are going to be held after Modi came to power at the Centre. Although both these states are Congress-ruled, a multi-cornered contest can be expected. In any case, stakes obviously are too high for Modi and the BJP.