Around 4,000 cops deployed ahead of Modi's rally in Punjab's Gurdaspur

New Delhi, Jan 3: For his first rally of 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi will address a public rally in Punjab's Gurdaspur town on Thursday as part of the BJP's campaign to hold 100 rallies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The rally would also kickstart the election campaign for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Punjab.

Meanwhile, around 4,000 policemen have been deployed from at least six districts of Punjab in Jalandhar and Phagwara ahead of Modi's visit.

Nearly 200 CCTVs and 60 metal detectors have been installed at strategic locations in and around the venue. CCTVS have also been installed on the Batala-Gurdaspur and Gurdaspur-Pathankot national highways.

The Prime Minister will address the rally at the PUDA ground in Gurdaspur, around 225 km from here.

The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat was won by the Congress in a by-election in October 2017. Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar represents Gurdaspur in the Lok Sabha.

Modi will also deliver the inaugural address at ISC-2019. The theme for which is 'Future : India-Science and Technology'. This will be his 5th address to Indian Science Congress after assuming office as Prime Minister.

During the five-day-long ISC, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technological origin will also be held, where scientists, senior officials from DRDO, ISRO, Department of Science and Technology, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the US, UK, India and other countries will participate.

About 30,000 people, including Nobel laureates and scientists, are expected to participate in the 106th science congress. A huge pandal has been put up with a sitting capacity of around 25,000 at LPU. Apart from women and children science congress, various sessions will be conducted on health and agriculture.

After inaugurating the Indian Science Congress, the PM will address the students and also have 'Chai pe Charcha' with the dignitaries. Then he will leave for Gurdaspur where a political rally will be held.