Chief ministers of NDA-ruled states are set to converge in Varanasi on Thursday, September 17, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates his 76th birthday. The BJP will also launch the month-long ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’ on September 17. The nationwide campaign, running until October 17, will feature service activities and public outreach programmes.
PM Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, is expected to be joined by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among other senior leaders.
Two bike rallies linking Modi’s parliamentary constituency with his birthplace, Vadnagar in Gujarat, will also be flagged off on September 17. The ‘Vadnagar to Varanasi’ and ‘Varanasi to Vadnagar’ journeys will begin simultaneously from the two cities and conclude on October 7. The rallies are expected to cover around 40,000 km across 193 districts and nearly 1,159 villages in 10 states, with about 1,000 young participants taking part.
The Vadnagar flag-off event will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Union Minister Anupriya Patel, among others.
Rajnath Singh will address a media conference in Kolkata on Wednesday on the ‘Seva Se Sankalp Abhiyan’. In a post on X, Singh said he would be in Kolkata on September 16 to speak about the campaign marking Modi’s birthday and his 25 years as head of government.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has separately urged residents to mark Modi’s birthday by lighting an “Aashirwad Ka Diya” on September 17. In a video message, Gupta appealed to families to light an earthen lamp between 6 pm and 7 pm and pray for PM Modi’s health and long life.
