Parkash Singh Badal will be returning to India on June 22

This would be Modi’s first visit after his elevation within the party and the state nit of the BJP is leaving no stone unturned on preparing for the rally. The state president Kamal Sharma had yesterday announced 33 district observers for preparation of the rally.

Badal’s presence at the rally means a lot to the BJP as SAD and the Shiv Sena are now the only two political parties in the country allied with the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance. SAD has had a long standing alliance with the BJP and the chief minister is known to share a close and personal bond with LK Advani.

Sharad Yadav’s stepping down as NDA convener has also revived the talk of Badal being chosen for the post and the possible “promotion” of SAD president and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal as the chief minister.

Sukhbir,however,will not be in India on June 23 to attend the BJP event. The chief minister and the deputy chief minister are currently both in England on a personal visit. While the chief minister is expected to arrive back on June 22,the deputy chief minister is continuing with his trip abroad and will be back only on July 3.

Interestingly the CM and the deputy chief minister are not showing any overt interest in the panchayat polls which are also going to be held on July 3. These elections are not fought on election symbols but individual candidates in the villages are being backed by various political parties.

The chief minister and the deputy chief minister had not campaigned for the the zila parishad and the block samiti polls held earlier though some cabinet ministers had campaigned in their areas. For the panchayat polls however no ministers are planning to join the campaign.

“The panchayat polls are more of a local level thing and though we are supporting candidates there is no use of the party symbol. In most cases after the elections are held,the winning panchayats come and show allegiance to a party of their choice which is generally the party in power,” said a senior SAD leader.

Panchayat polls where a host of local leaders,generally belonging to the party in power,tend to compete for the post of the panch or the sarpanch are seen to “divide” the villages into several groups much to the political detriment of the party in power. “The SAD would want the panchayat polls to be over soon so that they have time to unite the party cadre well in time for the parliamentary polls,” said the SAD leader.