Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Uttar Pradesh yet again today to launch big projects ahead of the state polls next year, this time in Gorakhpur - among the most prominent cities of eastern UP and the homestead of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
In Gorakhpur, the Prime Minister will take part in the reopening ceremony of the city's fertiliser factory that has been shut for close to three decades. PM Modi will also formally inaugurate a 300-bed AIIMS facility and a regional medical research centre that has a virus research and testing lab.
The government says the three projects together cost Rs 10,000 crore and front page ads in all newspapers have announced the Prime Minister's visit.
Purvanchal or eastern UP is a crucial region for the BJP with the state election early next year. The party won a majority of the region's 150 plus seats in the 2017 polls but this time, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party - the BJP's main challenger. Mr Yadav has stitched together a rainbow coalition, including many eastern UP allies, one of them is Om Prakash Rajbhar of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party who fought the 2017 polls as a BJP ally.
In Gorakhpur, the Prime Minister will address a gathering, a quasi-political event similar to those organised for his previous UP visits - the most recent ones being the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur and the foundation stone ceremony of the Noida international airport.
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