With eye on Gujarat, Amit Shah to launch BJP's assembly election campaign with 'biggest ever' townhall

New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah will launch his party's campaign for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections by addressing what is being touted as the ‘biggest ever’ townhall in the country in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

The theme of the program is 'Adikhan Gujarat' or 'Resolute Gujarat' during which the Shah will be fielding questions from young participants from the state.

Besides Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders are slated to hold dozens of rallies and roadshows in Gujarat in the run up to the assembly polls in the state. 

PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe would visit the state for three days during mid-September. 

Modi and Abe would also do the ‘bhumi pujan’, the ground-breaking ceremony, for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai ‘high speed’ train during their visit to the state from September 13 to 15.

The saffron party has already launched a massive publicity drive ahead of the function, with the party releasing a jingle and an eight-minute video chronicling Gujarat's development under BJP rule.

Quota agitation spearheaded by Hardik Patel of the Patidar community has been the biggest political challenge BJP has faced in the last two decades it has been in power in the state. 

The community, at the core of BJP's social coalition in Gujarat, had been seeking reservations in jobs and education. The agitation saw the participation of a large number of youths from the Patidar community.

Since then, party has made a concerted effort to reach out to a large section of the young voters in the state and Shah's townhall is being seen as a part of that larger campaign.

While 22 thousand people have already enrolled to participate in the program, the figure may touch one lakh by Sunday.

Besides, the party also plans to roll out 80 Narmada Raths. The water level in the Narmada Dam is expected to touch its maximum height next week. The chariots will ply across the state to commemorate the occasion, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be travelling to Gujarat.

A slew of other events are also planned for next week before Election Commission announces poll dates and Model Code of Conduct comes into effect.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be in Ahmedabad early next week to hold a workshop for BJP spokespersons and social media teams.