Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a day’s visit to his poll-bound home state of Gujarat on April 17 to participate in some events in the electorally-crucial South Gujarat and Saurashtra regions.

This will be his 11th visit of Gujarat since he took over as the PM in May 2014 and eighth since September 2016. According to BJP sources, he is likely to visit the state more frequently — around 10 times — in the run-up to the Assembly elections due before December 2017.

As in UP and other states that went to the polls recently, the BJP is unlikely to project any of its state leaders as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The ruling party would contest the Assembly polls keeping Modi, “son of the soil”, in the forefront.

During his April 17 visit, the PM will inaugurate Sumul Dairy’s cattle-feed plant at Bajipura village in Tapi district, and an ice-cream plant. He will also dedicate a trust-run Rs 400-crore hospital project in Surat.

Modi will inaugurate Phase-I of the Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation (SAUNI) project at Botad district of Saurashtra, of which he had laid the foundation stone in August 2016, and also launch work for Phase-II. Around 115 dams of the region under this project would conserve water overflowing from the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam, brought to Saurashtra through a pipeline network.

Modi will also address public meetings at Bajipura and Botad.

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