File photo: PM Modi at Kishtawar, Jammu and Kashmir
Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to Jammu and Kashmir today to campaign for the second phase of assembly elections and will address a rally in Udhampur, near Jammu, before flying to Poonch.
Hours before his visit, heavy firing was reported again in Arnia in the Jammu region, where a group of terrorists holed up in an abandoned army bunker near the border with Pakistan on Thursday. 12 people - four terrorists and three army soldiers were killed in an intense encounter which began on Thursday morning.
Sources said a lone surviving terrorist is presumed to be firing this morning from the bunker in Pind Khote village; PM Modi will address election rallies today at Udhampur in Poonch in Jammu.
The state's BJP unit said it hopes to draw as big a crowd today at the PM's rallies as it did at Mr Modi's rally in the mountainous Kishtwar town before the first phase. About 40,000 people had flocked to listen to the Prime Minister then.
BJP spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Khan said PM Modi is a "big factor" in these elections, promising that the party will deliver on it target of 44 plus seats in the 87-member assembly to form government.
In the national elections this year, the party won three of the six Lok Sabha seats in the state and has since been attempting to strengthen its cadres.
Prime Minister Modi has visited Jammu and Kashmir five times since he took over in May.
The BJP is contesting all the 87 assembly seats in the state, with no ore-poll alliances. There has been some buzz however of a post election tie-up, if necessary, with parties like the
People's Conference of former separatist Sajjad Lone.
In its campaign, the BJP has called upon separatists to join the political mainstream.
In the second phase, to be held on December 2, polling will be held in 18 constituencies - nine in the Kashmir Valley and nine in the Jammu region. The first phase of polling in 15 seats saw a record 71.28 per cent voter turnout.