Union Home Minister and BJP’s strategist Amit Shah will be on a three-day visit to Maharashtra attending a series of engagements in Nagpur, Pune and Kolhapur coinciding with the Maha Shivratri festivities and the birth anniversary of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The February 17-19 visit assumes significance in view of the fact that two Assembly seats of Pune -- Kasba Peth and Chinchwad -- are going for bye-elections though Shah would not be addressing any election rallies.
Shah will arrive on Friday evening and will be back in New Delhi on Sunday evening.
Incidentally, the visit coincides with Maha Shivratri, which falls on Saturday and the birth anniversary of Shivaji Maharaj, which falls on Sunday.
He will land in Nagpur on Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, he will visit Deekshabhoomi, where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution, embraced Buddhism. This will be followed by a visit to Reshim Bagh where he will pay tributes to Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the founding chief of RSS and Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar, popularly known as Guru Golwalkar, the second chief of RSS.
Thereafter, he will attend the golden jubilee celebrations of a media house.
On Saturday evening, he will visit Pune, where he will attend a conclave on cooperation hosted by a media house. Thereafter, he will meet the daughters of 50-odd police personnel who laid down their lives in Kashmir. He will also release the Marathi version of 'Modi@20'.
Shah will also pay obeisance at the Omkareshwar Temple coinciding with Maha Shivaratri and then visit the residence of Pune MP Girish Bapat.
On Sunday morning, he will attend the dedication ceremony of Shiv Srushti at Ambegaon coinciding with Shivaji Jayanti. Shiv Srushti is the historical theme park, which was the dream of the late Babasaheb Purandare, the historian, author and theatre personality.
Afternoon, he will fly to Kolhapur and head to Mahalaxmi Temple and offer prayers. He will pay respects to Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, the legendary social reformer and attend an event hosted by the Lohiya High School.
Shah will also be visiting the new BJP district office and later address the Vijay Sankalp Rally.
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