Chandigarh, Sept. 16 -- In a massive outreach programme, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has deputed 25 Union ministers of state (MoS) to visit the flood-affected districts of Punjab between September 11 and 20.

The initiative is being viewed as another effort by the party to expand its base in the rural heartland of Punjab, which bore the brunt of the recent floods.

Earlier, many BJP-led state governments, including in Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, had extended financial or relief aid to Punjab as a gesture of solidarity with the flood victims.

According to senior BJP leaders, the exercise has been launched on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had witnessed the scale of devastation during his recen...