Nadda offers prayers at Baba Baidyanath temple in Jharkhand's Deoghar

Deoghar (Jharkhand), Dec 6 (PTI) Union minister and BJP national president JP Nadda on Saturday offered prayers at the Baba Baidyanath Temple in Jharkhand's Deoghar, party leaders said.

He was welcomed at the place of worship by the Panda Dharmarakshini Sabha, they said.

Nadda paid obeisance to Lord Shiva at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

BJP state leader Shiv Pujan Pathak said that the party president is scheduled to attend a programme on the RSS centenary at Deoghar and inaugurate the newly built party office there.

He will also address booth-level workers of the BJP from 12 districts, mostly from the Santhal Pargana region, during the day, he said.

He will virtually inaugurate the party office in Gumla, Pathak said.

"This visit is seen as an opportunity to send a strategic message to BJP workers in Jharkhand as well as West Bengal," another party leader said.

The assembly elections in West Bengal are due next year.

"The BJP has been trying to strengthen its footprints in Santhal Pargana and Gumla regions, considered strongholds of the JMM. Our meeting is crucial," he said.

Nadda, the union health minister, will also visit AIIMS Deoghar in the evening before going to Delhi on a chartered plane.

He arrived in Deoghar on Friday night and held a closed-door meeting with the party's senior leaders in the state at the circuit house there.

State BJP president Babulal Marandi, former union minister Arjun Munda and ex-CMs Champai Soren and Madhu Koda had attended the meeting.

The national president also participated in the core committee meeting, which reviewed the BJP's position in the state.

Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi, who is also an MP from Koderma, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash were also present there on the occasion. PTI ANB SAN BDC