Uttar Pradesh will be the place to be in on Monday and Tuesday with the country's top leadership simultaneously camping in the state during the two days.
On Monday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will welcome Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani in Lucknow, his parliamentary constituency, and jointly address a public rally.
Vajpayee will leave for Delhi while Advani, who is on the final leg of his Bharat Uday Yatra, will proceed to Ayodhya. The Prime Minister will be back in Lucknow on April 13 to file his nomination papers.
In a rare coincidence, Leader of the Opposition and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, along with her son Rahul Gandhi, will be in UP to file their nominations for the Lok Sabha polls.
Rahul Gandhi is expected to file his nomination papers for the Amethi seat on Monday.
On Tuesday, Advani will address a political rally in Ayodhya while Sonia Gandhi will file her nomination papers for the Rae Bareli seat.
These events have prompted hectic political activity in both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress. Senior leaders of the two parties arrived in Lucknow in advance to supervise preparations for their respective display of strength.
Banners, buntings, welcome arches have been put up all along Advani's route from Kanpur to Lucknow as well as Sonia and Rahul's route from Lucknow to Sultanpur, where nomination papers for Amethi are to be filed.
BJP supporters have already begun converging at the sprawling Ambedkar Maidan, venue of PM and DPM's joint rally while a long cavalcade of vehicles trailed Rahul and Sonia along the 140km route to Sultanpur.
