BENGALURU: Long before the dates for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have started the campaign ball rolling to visit every region in the state and target individual districts.
After Gujrat elections in December last year, the BJP top brass has put its complete focus on Karnataka which will go to the polls in the next couple of months. In the past few weeks, there has been a steady stream of visits by party leaders from New Delhi, including the PM, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda as well as several Union ministers either for party events or to launch various schemes. The leaders used these events to highlight the BJP government’s development works.
Modi, who started visiting Karnataka from September last year, has increased the frequency of his visits. After BJP worker Praveen Nettaru’s murder in Dakshina Kannada, the party faced wrath from its own workers after which Modi’s visit helped to pacify them to a certain extent.
In November 2022, the PM was in Karnataka again, this time focusing on Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts where he flagged off of the Vande Bharat Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru Express, inaugurated a second terminal at the Kempegowda International Airport and unveiled an 108-foot-tall statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda.
Earlier this month, Modi took part in the National Youth Festival (Yuvajanotsava) in Hubballi. Recently, Modi’s event at Yadgir district witnessed distribution of title deeds to Banjara community members from Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura districts.
Modi is also expected to make two to three visits in February. He is scheduled to open an airport in Shivamogga on February 27, which also marks former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s birthday. He is also expected to lay the foundation of a mining school at Sandur in Ballari district. There is plan to hold a big convention in Davanagere where Modi is expected to attend. The government medical college and hospital in Chikkaballapur is also awaiting Modi’s time.
Modi will also lay the foundation stone for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s chopper facility in Gubbi taluk, Tumakuru, likely in February. The much-awaited Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway is almost ready, and Modi is expected to inaugurate it in March.
According to BJP leaders, Modi is visiting districts and regions where the party is weak or facing negative consequences for various reasons. “Modi will set the final stage after covering most of the districts in the next few weeks. Our state leaders will also travel to these regions, but Modi’s visit will make the party more stronger,” said a leader.