Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, April 8, will address a public rally in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, kick-staring the Lok Sabha election campaigning in the state for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi will hold at least 10 rallies in the state, starting with Chandrapur on April 8.

Modi will be campaigning for BJP’s candidate from Chandrapur, Sudhir Mungantiwar, who is also the sitting forest, cultural affairs and fisheries minister of Maharashtra under Eknath Shinde’s cabinet. Meanwhile, the Congress party has fielded Pratibha Dhanorkar from the seat. She is the widow of Balu Dhanorkar, who passed away last year at 47.

The Maharashtra BJP unit plans to hold Modi rallies in seats across the state where a tough fight is expected by the opposition parties. After his rally in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur on Monday, PM Modi will once again visit the state on April 14 to address a rally in Ramtek.

BJP candidate Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “PM Modi is coming here to interact with the people in the Gadchiroli and Chandrapur area. PM Modi will interact about the country’s development and about several other things related to the constituency.”

He further alleged that for the last four years, Congress MP Balu Dhanorkar, who won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls did not carry out any development work in the area.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second-largest after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with undivided Shiv Sena.

In the 2019 elections, Congress candidate Balu Dhanorkar won from the Chandrapur seat. Dhanorkar, however, passed away at a private hospital in Delhi in May 2023 at the age of 47.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second-largest after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with undivided Shiv Sena. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20.

(With inputs from PTI)