Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a three-day visit of his home state Gujarat from Monday.
Though the visit is official, the programmes have been designed in a manner that the prime minister captures a cross section of the society of the state that goes to polls by the year end.
His first engagement will be a visit of the Command and Control Centre for Schools in Gandhinagar on Monday evening. His visit to the institution assumes significance considering that the new entrant, the Aam Aadmi Party has been raising the issue of quality of education and infrastructure in government-run schools.
Two days ago, the AAP had released a WhatsApp number asking people of Gujarat to send photographs and videos of the schools that are in a bad shape or where the quality of education is poor. AAP’s Gujarat unit chief Gopal Italia said that they would like to give the details to the prime minister. He feared that the ruling BJP and the officers might misguide Modi in his own state by presenting a rosy picture.
On Tuesday, Modi will lay foundation stone of various projects of the Banas Dairy in Diyodar, Banaskantha, north Gujarat. The region is crucial for the BJP in electoral politics. On the same day, in Jamnagar, he will also lay foundation stone of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.
The last day of his engagement will see him inaugurate the AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit in Gandhinagar.
His last engagement will be addressing a tribal convention in the tribal district of Dahod. The tribal belt is the stronghold of the opposition Congress and the BJP has been trying to make inroads.
Last month, the prime minister had addressed a panchayat convention in Ahmedabad.
