PM Modi arrives in Bhopal to attend Combined Commanders' Conference and flag off Vande Bharat train

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bhopal on Saturday morning to take part in the ongoing Combined Commanders’ Conference and to flag off a Vande Bharat Express train that will run between the state capital and Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed PM Modi at the city airport on his arrival around 9.30 am. The prime minister then proceeded to the Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre in the city, where the Combined Commanders’ Conference is underway, official sources said.

The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier planned a mega roadshow in Bhopal to welcome PM Modi, but it was cancelled in the wake of the Indore temple tragedy that occurred on Thursday, in which 36 persons lost their lives, party’s state unit president Vishnu Dutt Sharma said. Around 3.15 pm, Modi will flag off the Vande Bharat train from Rani Kamalapati station in Bhopal, the sources said.

The railway station in Bhopal, which was earlier called Habibganj station, was renamed as Rani Kamalapati station in November 2021 in honour of the famousGond queen of Bhopal. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) earlier said that the new train being introduced between Bhopal and New Delhi will be the eleventh Vande Bharat train in the country.

The Combined Commanders’ Conference, which began on March 30, is being held on the theme ‘ready, resurgent, relevant’ and will see deliberations over a spectrum of issues pertaining to national security, including jointness and theaterisation in the armed forces.