Ahmedabad, Sep 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Gujarat's Vadnagar on Thursday to flag off the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s 'Vadnagar to Varanasi' Seva Sankalp Bike Yatra as part of a nationwide campaign marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday and 25 years in public life.
Union Minister Shah will flag off the yatra at 9:30 a.m. from Vadnagar (Gujarat), PM Modi's birthplace, where he will also participate in a series of programmes during the day.
The parallel 'Varanasi to Vadnagar' yatra will begin at the same time from Varanasi, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu among those expected to attend the launch there.
The twin bike yatras are the main feature of the BJP's 'Seva Sankalp Abhiyan', which begins on Thursday.
The party has said the two yatras will together cover about 40,000 km, passing through 193 districts and around 1,159 villages in 10 states.
Around 1,000 young people are expected to participate, with 500 travelling from Vadnagar towards Varanasi and another 500 travelling in the opposite direction.
The yatras are scheduled to conclude on October 7, when PM Modi completes 25 years in public life.
In Vadnagar, Amit Shah's programme will begin at 8:15 a.m. with a Maha Aarti at Sharmishtha Lake, a padayatra, the flag-off preparations for the Vadnagar-Varanasi Seva Yatra and the launch of a cleanliness campaign at the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, State BJP President Jagdish Vishwakarma, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi and other party leaders are expected to be present.
The BJP's Gujarat unit said the campaign would include tree plantation, cleanliness drives, the Nasha Mukt Bharat campaign, the TB Mukt Bharat campaign and water-conservation awareness activities.
The yatras will also include interactions with beneficiaries of government schemes, young people and beneficiaries of women's empowerment programmes, besides felicitations for sanitation workers.
Four preparatory sub-yatras have already been travelling towards Vadnagar from different parts of Gujarat since September 13.
They began from Somnath in Saurashtra, Shamlaji in north Gujarat, Pavagadh in central Gujarat and Unai Mataji in south Gujarat.
Party leaders said water collected from rivers, lakes, wells and other water sources along the routes would be taken to Vadnagar in a 'Jal Kalash Rath'.
At Vadnagar, water from Sharmishtha Lake will be added to the collection before a Jalabhishek at the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple.
The Jal Kalash will subsequently travel towards Varanasi, with additional water collected along the route for a Jalabhishek at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
"Water from the Narmada, Sabarmati, Mahi, Gomti, Vishwamitri, Tapi, Banas, Shetrunji, Aji and Pamba rivers would form part of the collection," they said.
After the Vadnagar programme, Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Ahmedabad.
At 5:15 p.m., he will offer prayers at the Shri Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur area, followed by an appearance at the 'Aashirwad No Deewo' programme at the Kankaria Lake premises at 5:45 p.m.
He is scheduled to attend the Ganesh Mahotsav organised by the Sardar Patel Seva Dal at Sardar Patel Chowk in Vastrapur at 7 p.m.
The BJP's nationwide campaign is being held alongside other programmes planned across states to mark PM Modi's birthday on September 17 and his completion of 25 years as the head of government.
Source: IANS
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