PM Modi in UP today, will attend two functions

Lucknow, Feb 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend two important functions in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of Hindu shrine Kalki Dham in Sambhal on Monday morning and later, in the day, he will attend the Ground Breaking Ceremony in Lucknow where he will unveil 14,000 projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore.

These projects will help create 33.5 lakh employment opportunities and a major part of the investment is coming into sectors like manufacturing, renewable energy, information technology, housing and real estate.

These projects stem from Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) inked during the UP Global Investors Summit held last year, where investment proposals totaling Rs 40 lakh crore were received.

"The investments are spread across regions, with Paschimanchal (west) getting the maximum (52 per cent) followed by Poorvanchal (east) (29 per cent), Madhyanchal (central) (14 per cent) and Bundelkhand (five per cent)," said Uttar Pradesh Industrial and Infrastructure Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta.

"Of the Rs 10 lakh crore, maximum investments are coming up in sunrise sectors like manufacturing (21 per cent), renewable energy (13 per cent), IT and ITeS (nine per cent), food processing (six per cent), housing and real estate (six per cent), hospitality and entertainment (three per cent), education (three per cent) etc," he added.

Nearly 3,500 investors and guests, comprising individuals from India and overseas, including representatives from Fortune 500 companies, ambassadors, and high commissioners, are expected to participate in the event.

The events are set to unfold concurrently across all 75 districts.

Meanwhile, in Sambhal, Prime Minister Modi will lay the foundation stone of Hindu shrine Kalki Dham.

Kalki Dham, situated in Anchora Kamboh locality of Sambhal, is named after Kalki -- believed to be the 10th and final incarnation of Vishnu, who would appear to end the Kalyug.

The Prime Minister will be visiting the district after 15 years.

"He had last visited Sambhal in 2004 and 2009 as Gujarat Chief Minister," said BJP Sambhal district president Harendra Chaudhary.

The party has planned a 'magnificent' welcome for the Prime Minister.

Thousands of seers from across the country are expected to attend the event.

The Dham is headed by its Peethadheeshwar Acharya Pramod Krishnam who was expelled from the Congress last week, days after he met Modi and invited him to lay the foundation stone of the shrine.

Krishnam, who contested from Sambhal on a Congress ticket in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, may join the BJP soon.

This, incidentally, will be Modi's first visit to the west Uttar Pradesh district as Prime Minister -- similar to his visit to Ayodhya in August 2020 to lay the foundation stone of Ram temple -- and it comes after the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony for the Ram temple last month.

His visit to Sambhal, which has a sizeable population of Muslims, is significant in BJP's bid for a robust performance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

This time, BJP plans to wrest back seats it had lost to the opposition in the 2019 polls in this region. BJP had lost all the five seats of Moradabad, Bijnor, Rampur, Amroha and Sambhal to the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance in 2019.

Sambhal is currently represented by SP MP Shafiq-ur-Rahman Barq -- a four-term former MLA and a five-term MP.