New Delhi: Yatras (roadshows) seem to be a key strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the forthcoming elections and the party is organising them shortly in six states, including three where election are due later this year.

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, all ruled by the BJP, will vote in November-December to elect a new government, and West Bengal, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, are the ‘greenfield’ states where the BJP expects to make major gains in the 2019 LokSabha polls.

BJP chief Amit Shah will flag off the “Suraj  Gaurv Yatra” of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje from Charbhuja Temple of Lord Vishnu in Rajsamand district on August 4, one of the three BJP leaders said. Raje launched a similar outreach programme from this temple in 2013 and stormed to power that year, defeating the incumbent Congress government.

The 45-day yatra will end with a rally in Ajmer on September 2 that may be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But within this roadshow, there will be many mini-roadshows.“Each BJP MP will take out a separate yatra in his constituency during this period and it will merge with Raje’s when she passes through that area,” the first BJP leader said.

Chhattsigarh chief minister Raman Singh has completed the first phase of his Vikas Yatra between May 12 and June 14, and will set out on the second leg of a similar tour between August 16 and September 30, a second BJP  leader said. Home minister Rajnath Singh flagged off the first leg from Maoist hotbed Dantewada and Prime Minister Modiaddr- essed the rally in Bilaspur on June 14.