'Lucknow welcomes Uri avengers` hoardings as PM Narendra Modi to arrive in city on Dussehra

Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday celebrate the festival of Dussehra in Lucknow.

The PM would witness the famous 'Ram Leela' at Aishbagh and thereafter stay back for the 'Ravan Dahan', burning of Ravana effigies.

Meanwhile, a few hoardings in the city declare "Lucknow welcomes the avengers of Uri". The hoardings have been placed despite the Opposition's charge that the Prime Minister's visit to Lucknow has a 'hidden agenda'. 

It is for the first time any Prime Minister is celebrating the festival in Lucknow. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was Lok Sabha member from Lucknow when he was Prime Minister, did not visit the city on Dussehra.

As a tradition, all previous prime ministers have spent Dussehra in the union capital and have witnessed the Ravan Dahan in Delhi where even the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shares the stage with the PM at the Ram Leela ground festivities.

The move is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to gain a foothold in the state which is slated to go to polls early next year.

According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president and city Mayor Dinesh Sharma, Prime Minister Modi will fly back to New Delhi after spending around two hours in the city.

He has no other engagements during his visit to Lucknow. It is, however, not clear whether Modi will attend the Ram Leela in New Delhi and then fly to Lucknow or skip the Delhi event.

(With IANS inputs)