UP to roll out red carpet for Modi as PM makes maiden Lucknow visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a day’s visit to Uttar Pradesh on Friday. He will first visit his own constituency Varanasi and later Lucknow in the afternoon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a day’s visit to Uttar Pradesh on Friday. He will first visit his own constituency Varanasi and later Lucknow in the afternoon.

This is Modi’s maiden visit to Lucknow, which has been former PM Atal Bihari’s Vajpayee’s constituency in the past.(REUTERS)

This is Modi’s maiden visit to Lucknow, which has been former PM Atal Bihari’s Vajpayee’s constituency in the past.

This will be Modi’s fifth to Varanasi as PM. His last visit to Varanasi was on December 18 when he along Janpanese PM Shinzo Abe visited the ancient city.

In Varanasi, Modi will give away assistive devices to 9,296 divyangs (persons with disabilities). Twenty-two of the 9,296 divyangs, including five visually impaired, will be presented the devices personally by the PM.

The PM would also flag off the Mahamana Express through remote soon after reaching the function venue. Tight security arrangements have been made for the PM’s visit to Varanasi.

After reaching at International Airport Varanasi at 11.05 am, the prime minister will take a helicopter to reach the DLW ground at 11.30 am for the functions. From there, Modi will take a chopper for the Babatpur airport and then leave for Lucknow in a special plane.

The state capital is all set to roll out a red carpet for Modi.

In the last 13 years, it is the first time that a Prime Minister would be visiting Lucknow. AB Vajpayee was the last to visit, way back in 2003. Manmohan Singh visited Kanpur in the run-up to the UP Assembly elections in February 2012, but did not come to Lucknow.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will receive the PM at the airport, but he may not share the dais with him at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) on Friday where Modi will address students at the sixth convocation.

From here, Modi will go to Colvin Taluqdars’ College ground. On his arrival, he would be driven from the college ground to the stage on an e-rickshaw.

The PM would hand over keys of 11 e-rickshaws to the beneficiaries during the distribution of 2,100 e-rickshaws under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. He will also interact with 11 families of rickshaw drivers here.

This special rickshaw would be driven by Vijay Pandey, managing director of the Bhartiya Micro Credit, a micro-financing company that has rolled out the PM’s prestigious project in the state capital.

Under the scheme, 3,500 e-rickshaws had been sanctioned for Lucknow, out of which 2,100 would be distributed in the PM’s presence.

The Ambedkar Mahasabha will be the last stop of the PM where he will pay floral tributes to Dr BR Ambedkar.