New Delhi: With an aim to expand its footprint in South India, the Bharatiya Janata Party will launch ‘Vijaya Yatra’, a rath yatra in Kerala ahead of the state assembly polls later this year.

The rath yatra will be launched on February 21 from Kasaragod and will culminate at Thiruvananthapuram around the first week of March.

The move comes as part of the party’s attempts to increase its footprint in South India. The yatra would be launched by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

While Yogi will inaugurate the yatra, several cabinet ministers and top post holders in the party would lead the rath yatra throughout the event.

“It is more on lines of Jan Raksha yatra that we took out led by Amit Shah.

However, that was against the political violence against our karyakartas and people of the state. Vijaya Yathra is to sound the bugle of polls and to win them,” said a senior functionary of BJP Kerala unit.

Earlier this month, JP Nadda, BJP national president, on a two-day visit to the poll-bound state, reviewed organisational activities in wake of upcoming elections.

Kerala is scheduled to go to polls in April. In 2016 assembly elections out of 140 seats, BJP had won one seat – Nemom. The senior leaders believe that the party is likely to improve its performance in the upcoming elections.