Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Jammu around February 20 and the administration in Kashmir has been alerted to remain prepared for his possible visit to the Valley also. However, as of now, the officials are yet to receive the PM’s exact itinerary.
A senior official said they have been formally informed about the PM’s visit. “We are yet to get the specific details though,” he said.”Visit of PM anywhere is always of great significance. His visit to Jammu was long overdue and assumes more importance when J&K is undergoing a huge positive change,” said Brigadier (Retd) Anil Gupta, spokesperson of the BJP in J&K. He further said that the PM’s visit around February 20 will formally sound the poll bugle in Jammu and Kashmir.
The PM’s visit to Jammu would be a shot in the arm for BJP cadres as they are facing increasing criticism from their electoral base. Modi had visited Jammu in 2022 and the last such visit to the Valley was in May 2019, two months before the abrogation of Article 370 in August that year. BJP had won two Lok Sabha seats from Jammu in the last general elections.
In this election, following the redrawing of the boundaries of Anantnag-Poonch-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats, BJP is striving to lay its claim on this seat as well. The recent decision to include Paharis in the Schedule Tribe category was also aimed to woo the voters in this Lok Sabha constituency.