Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on Saturday going to address the valedictory session of a national-level meeting of the BJP's OBC Morcha in Jodhpur, the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Later, Shah will also deliver the inaugural address at a meeting of the BJP's booth-level workers in Jodhpur. Prior to his arrival in Jodhpur, the Union home minister is scheduled to visit the Tanot Mata temple around 10.30 am.
He will also lay the foundation stone of border tourism development work at the Tanot premises around 11 am. Shah arrived in Jaisalmer on Friday evening.
In Jodhpur, BJP functionaries said the home minister would be accorded a grand welcome. Over 1,500 party workers wearing saffron turbans and riding motorcycles will escort him to the venue of the meeting from the airport, they said.
National president of the BJP OBC Morcha K Laxman, Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia inaugurated the two-day working committee meeting on Friday morning.
Soon after the party's OBC Morcha meeting, Shah will address the BJP's booth-level workers at Jodhpur's Dussehra Ground. The party is mobilising its booth-level workers from the entire division for the meeting.
"The party workers' meeting is going to be historic," a BJP leader told PTI. The national working committee meet of the BJP's OBC Morcha in Jodhpur is aimed at strengthening the party's OBC vote bank in the state ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
Jodhpur is the home town of Gehlot, who also belongs to the OBC category. The BJP also wants to measure its strength in the state's western part ahead of the assembly elections.
Known locally as Marwar, Jodhpur is the biggest division of Rajasthan and comprises six districts -- Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Sirohi, and Pali.
Of the 200 Assembly constituencies, 33 are in Jodhpur division, including 10 in Jodhpur district. Of these, the BJP currently holds 14 seats, the Congress 17, while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and Independents hold one seat each.
"OBC is a vast community. It is with the BJP ideology. This is the first time in the BJP regime that we have 27 ministers from this community. Also the OBC commission has been given constitutional recognition by the Narendra Modi government," Poonia said.
(With PTI Inputs)
