PM’s ‘4 States in 2 Days’ Tour, Mega Projects in Big South Push

Bangalore:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting four South Indian states in two days, amid a bitter fight between the BJP and several ruling parties in the states. During the visit, PM Modi will attend several programs and lay the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 25,000 crore.

The PM’s visit assumes significance as it comes less than six months before the assembly elections in Karnataka and bitter battles between centrally appointed governors and ruling parties in several states.

While the PM said his visit is aimed at “strengthening India’s growth trajectory”, his timing appears to be an attempt to counter the Congress’ Bharat Jodi Yatra, which is drawing huge crowds starting from South India and almost Creating buzz in the media. Now two months.

PM tweeted, “In the next 2 days, I will travel to 4 states in the South – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to participate in various programs aimed at strengthening India’s growth path.”

The PM on Friday flagged off South India’s first Vande Bharat train – Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express at Krantiveer Sangoli Rayanna (KSR) railway station in Bengaluru. He also paid floral tributes to the statues of poet Kanakadas and Maharishi Valmiki at Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore.

He then inaugurated Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and unveiled a 108-foot bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda at the airport.

The PM is scheduled to visit Tamil Nadu – a key opposition-ruled state where the BJP has failed to make a mark despite repeated attempts – later in the day.

The PM will inaugurate and lay foundation stones of several projects worth over Rs 10,500 crore in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Later in the day, the PM will dedicate and lay the foundation stone of several projects worth over Rs 9,500 crore in Telangana’s Ramagundam, which is also slated for elections next year.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been a vocal critic of PM Modi and the BJP, and has been traveling to opposition-ruled states in an attempt to stitch together a grand alliance of like-minded parties against the BJP ahead of the next general elections.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK government has been at loggerheads with the Center on several issues, including its attempt to impose Hindi on the Dravidian people and the controversial NEET Exemption Bill.

In Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana there is a major battle going on between the governors and the state governments.

The governors of the three states have been accused of acting like “puppets of the Centre” by the state governments, which have clashed several times with them over key laws. Anger against centrally appointed governors has spread across state borders as regional parties look across party lines to consolidate forces and take on the ruling BJP.