india

Updated: Dec 29, 2018 08:55 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, on Saturday at the start of a busy domestic schedule as he shrugs aside the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent electoral reverses and renews contact with his constituents in an early start to the campaign for next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Before travelling to Varanasi, Modi will stop in Ghazipur, where he will release a commemorative postage stamp on Maharaja Suheldeo and address a public rally. The PM’s rally in Ghazipur is being seen as an effort by the BJP to woo the Rajbhar community there, which revers Maharaja Suheldo.

After reaching Varanasi on Saturday, Modi will attend the ‘one district, one product’ regional summit at the Deendayal Hastakala Sankul (Trade Facilitation Centre & Crafts Museum), and will participate in programmes involving beneficiaries of several central and state government schemes.

The PM will also inaugurate the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) on the campus of the National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC) in Varanasi.

On Sunday, Modi will be in Port Blair, where he will rename Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep, Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and Ross Island as Netaji Subhash Chandra Base Island, apart from dedicating several projects to the nation.

According to a government official, Modi will visit the Tsunami Memorial at Car Nicobar. He will also launch some infrastructure projects and address a public rally. Later in the day, the PM will lay a wreath at the Martyrs Column in Port Blair, pay floral tributes at the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Marina Park and will visit the Cellular Jail.

At Netaji Stadium, the Prime Minister will release a commemorative postal stamp, coin and first day cover to mark the 75th anniversary of the hoisting of the tricolour on Indian soil by Bose.

On 30 December 1943, Bose hoisted the national flag at the Gymkhana Ground (now Netaji Stadium) in Port Blair and announced that the islands, which are to be renamed, were the first Indian territory to be freed from British rule. The islands at the time had been captured by the Japanese during World War II.