LUCKNOW, Sept. 22 -- As part of the 'Seva Pakhwada' launched on September 17 to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, the 'NaMo Marathon' was organised across 16 cities in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The marathon in Lucknow was flagged off in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary. Thousands of youth, athletes, and citizens took part, promoting the message of 'Fit India' and 'New India's New Zeal'. Winners of the marathon were felicitated at the event. In other cities, the event was held with deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya in Agra, Brajesh Pathak in Bareilly, and party general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh in Meerut. Govind Narayan Shukla, BJP state general secretary, described the marathon as a result of PM Modi's vision, adding that such events will further encourage youth participation in nation-building. Prominent leaders who joined the marathon included BJP national vice president Rekha Verma in Mathura, farmers' wing national president Raj Kumar Chahar in Aligarh, cabinet minister Swatantra Dev Singh in Gorakhpur, finance minister Suresh Khanna in Shahjahanpur, minister of women's welfare, child development and nutrition Baby Rani Maurya along with MLC Anoop Gupta in Jhansi, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan in Firozabad, cabinet minister Nitin Agrawal in Ayodhya, minister of state JPS Rathore in Prayagraj, Dayashankar Singh in Saharanpur, Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi in Ghaziabad, and BJP Youth Wing state president Prashant Dutt Dwivedi in Moradabad....