PM Modi to launch BJP’s Rajasthan campaign with Ajmer rally on October 6

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to open the BJP’s election campaign in poll-bound Rajasthan with a public meeting in Ajmer on Saturday, October 6. The party is counting on his popularity and plans a series of rallies across the state, with a focus on areas where it is seen as weak.

The rally plan

The Ajmer meeting will mark the end of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s statewide Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra. State BJP president Madan Lal Saini said it would be a historic event, with nearly three lakh people expected. Before the rally, Modi will pray at the Brahma temple in Pushkar.

The party’s election management committee has drawn up a schedule for further meetings, awaiting approval from the Prime Minister’s Office. Modi is expected to hold rallies in Banswara, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Karauli, and either Alwar or Sikar, covering seven districts. BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said Modi would sound the poll bugle in Ajmer and that his rallies would energise workers and build a favourable mood.

According to a party leader, Amit Shah, the BJP president, has been gathering feedback on the party’s strengths and weaknesses in the state. On Thursday Shah was to address a Shakti Kendra Sammelan in Sikar and an SC Sammelan in Bikaner.

Transport strike

Asked about the 17-day strike by Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation workers, Saini said he sympathised with them, having been an employees’ leader himself, and hoped the government committee would resolve it soon. He said workers had the right to protest peacefully and that the police lathi charge on protesting teachers was wrong.

Congress reaction

Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Archana Sharma said the Prime Minister was welcome and that people would be glad if he made announcements for the state. But if he came only as a BJP leader making empty statements, she said, people “will not like it”. She hoped he would meet the state’s demands before the model code of conduct took effect.

What happened next

In the Rajasthan Assembly election the Congress won 99 of the 199 seats that voted on 7 December 2018, against 73 for the BJP, and Ashok Gehlot became Chief Minister.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party and Elections.

Originally published on 5 October 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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