Bhopal, Aug 28 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced that it will launch five ‘Jan Ashirvaad Yatras’ in five different regions ahead of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will flag-off the first yatra from the Chitrakoot Assembly constituency in Satna district of Vindhya region on September 3, state BJP president V.D. Sharma said at a press conference on Monday.

Sharma said the other yatras will begin from four regions in Mandla (Mahakoshal), Khandwa (Nimad), Ujjain (Malwa), and Sheopur (Gwalior-Chambal) over the next five days. He stated the party has also requested defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda to flag off the yatra from separate places.

After covering 10,641 km, all these yatras will conclude in Bhopal on September 25.

Importantly, this time all these yatras will be conducted without any particular leader leading them unlike in 2008, 2013, and 2018. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had led the yatras before the three previous polls.

The BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003, barring 18 months between 2018 and 2020.

Addressing the press conference, BJP leader and Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the party will raise awareness about the development work undertaken in Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan. “The party is going to retain power and the state will contribute to India’s journey to becoming a developed nation by 2047.”

He said the yatra has been decentralised as a new experiment to cover the maximum distance in 18 days. The previous such yatras spanned 90 to 92 days. “The yatras will cover 210 assembly constituencies and 10,641 kilometres.”

Tomar informed that all the five yatras will culminate with a gathering in Bhopal and a ‘Workers Mahakumbh” on September 25.