Amit Shah to visit Satnami community site in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: BJP chief Amit Shah will be visiting Giroudhpuri Dham in Balodabazar district of Chhattisgarh, a pilgrimage site of the scheduled caste Satnami community, during his three-day visit to state from tomorrow.
During his visit on June 8, 9 and 10, Shah would interact with MPs, MLAs, BJP office-bearers and workers to guide about how to strengthen the party ahead of next year’s Assembly polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, state BJP chief Dharamlal Kaushik said today.
“A road-map for the coming Assembly and parliamentary elections will be drafted under the guidance of the national president,” he said.
Giroudhpuri, 130 km from the state capital Raipur, is the birth place of Satnami saint Guru Ghasidas.
Scheduled castes constitute about 12 per cent of Chhattisgarh’s population of 2.5 crore.
These communities, once considered a Congress vote-bank, sided with BJP in the 2013 Assembly elections. The ruling party won nine out of 10 seats reserved for SCs then.
Kaushik, however, maintained that Shah’s visit to Giroudhpuri is apolitical.
Congress said it would stage protests against alleged `commission-khori’ (bribery culture) in the BJP-ruled state during Shah’s visit.
“A protest rally will be organised in Raipur on June 8 and there will be state-wide chakka-jam (blockade) on national highways at the district headquarters on June 10,” said the state Congress spokesperson Gyanesh Sharma.