Leaving nothing to chances ahead of assembly polls in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is roping bigwigs to energise its cadre and secure a huge majority in upcoming polls in Himachal Pradesh through its parivartan rath yatra.

The parivartan rath yatra which started on 18 June, is leaving the party cadre and leaders, buoyed as it was for the first time that any party had roped in Union ministers or chief ministers to take part in the pre-poll rallies.

As part of pre-poll preparations, the BJP chief Amit Shah had already visited the state twice and he would attend the closing ceremony party’s parivartan rath yatra in Bharmour in Chamba district on 8 July.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi had participated in two rallies at Mandi and Shimla, giving boost to party’s poll preparedness.

In addition, PM’s act of gifting Himachali products as Kangra tea, silver among other items to US President Donald Trump and flaunting Himachali cap during the visit to Israel had added to the clamour among the party cadre that the state holds more significance for national leadership than anyone ever imagined.

The party bigwigs as Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union Ayush minister Shripad Naik, Union Health and Family Welfare minister JP Nadda and party incharge Mangal Pandey started the campaign. While closing events would be attended by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Amit Shah.

“We have covered around 7,000 km distance during our yatras and rallies were held in all 68 constituencies of the state,” Satpal Singh Satti, state BJP chief told The Statesman.

The success of the yatra can be gauged from the fact that the same Congress leaders who earlier used to mock the yatra, are now criticising it, terming it as mere ‘Tempoo Yatra’ or a ‘flop show’, he said.

“The rallies has boosted the morale our party workers and we are hopeful that we would be able to achieve Mission 50 seats easily in the assembly polls,” he added.

The state incharge of BJP, Mangal Pandey said the main aim behind holding yatra was to expose the corrupt practices and inefficient governance of Congress government in HP. “We called on the people through these yatras to vote for development politics that is being pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government,” Pandey said, adding there would be more visits by party chief Amit Shah and PM Modi in coming days in the state.