PM to visit Bhopal, flag off 5 Vande Bharat trains

Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday visit Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, where he will flag off five Vande Bharat trains, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said.

After arriving here, Modi will head to Rani Kamalapati railway station from where he will physically and virtually flag off a set of five Vande Bharat Express trains connecting important cities in different parts of the country.

This is for the first time so many Vande Bharat trains will be launched in one day. Two of them will be for Madhya Pradesh, where the Assembly polls are due by the year-end.

"These trains will improve connectivity in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar and Jharkhand," Modi said in a tweet on Monday.

These semi high-speed trains are: Rani Kamalapati (Bhopal)-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express, Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express, Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express, an official statement said.

At the second function in the state capital, Modi will address 3,000 Bharatiya Janata Party workers selected from across the country who have made effective contributions in empowering their booths under the party's “Mera Booth Sabse Majboot” campaign, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma said.

On the occasion, the PM will interact with 10 lakh booth-level BJP workers virtually, Sharma said.

"I will get an opportunity to interact with lakhs of dedicated workers under 'Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot' programme. This opportunity will further empower their resolve for a developed India," Modi tweeted.

PM Modi's visit to Shahdol district of MP on Tuesday has been put off in view of heavy rain warning, CM Chouhan said.

The prime minister has postponed his visit to the tribal-dominated district because of warning of heavy rains and keeping in mind inconvenience downpour may cause to people coming to attend the event, the chief minister said in a statement.

A new date for his visit will be announced soon, he added.

The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert, warning of heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Madhya Pradesh till Tuesday morning.

A proposed road show of Modi in Bhopal has also been cancelled because of the weather conditions, a party leader earlier said.

Inputs from PTI