Shah to start UP campaign from Muzaffarnagar

New Delhi/Muzaffarnagar: Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah will launch his Lok Sabha elections campaign in Uttar Pradesh with a rally in Muzaffarnagar’s Shahpur town on Wednesday. Sudhir Saini, the BJP’s district unit chief, said on Tuesday that Shah will reach Muzaffarnagar at 1 pm. The home minister will address a public rally at National Inter College Ground in Shahpur on Wednesday, sources had earlier said. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary will also address the rally, Saini said.

The RLD recently parted ways with the opposition INDIA bloc and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from two seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of the NDA. Eight parliamentary constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh -- Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Kairana, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit -- will go to the polls in the first phase of the elections on April 19.

After the rally, Shah will attend a meeting of the BJP’s Lok Sabha core group of Uttar Pradesh in the town, the sources had said. The BJP has renominated MP and Union Minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan from Muzaffarnagar. The party’s candidates from the eight constituencies where polling will be held on April 19 are expected take part in Shah’s rally.