Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have completed 20 visits this year to the five southern states on Tuesday when he returns to Delhi after a five-day election campaign blitz.
Even before the schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India, PM Modi had chosen the southern states to launch his campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on March 15.
By the end of Tuesday, the PM would have visited Tamil Nadu seven times this year, Kerala and Telangana four times apiece, would have been to Karnataka three times and to Andhra Pradesh twice.
“The road to power in Delhi may go through Uttar Pradesh, but the road this time to ‘NDA 400 Paar’ will go through South India. We aim to win 50-60 seats for the NDA in the five southern states this time. It is this that will propel the NDA beyond 400 seats,” a senior BJP leader and Union Minister told News18, explaining the Prime Minister’s campaign push in South India.
The News18 Mega Opinion Poll last week had predicted that the NDA could win 58 seats in the five southern states, double of what it could manage in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The poll has predicted 18 seats for the NDA in Andhra Pradesh, eight in Telangana, 25 in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu, and two seats in Kerala.
The BJP has sealed an alliance with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh, where it won no seat in 2019.
The choice of the venues for PM’s rallies since March 15 indicates the seats and regions the NDA is focussing on to win. PM Modi was in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu for a big road show on Monday evening and will be in Salem on March 19. He began his election campaign from the Kanyakumari seat in Tamil Nadu on March 15. On February 28, the PM was in Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
Similarly, Modi will be in Palakkad in Kerala on March 19. He campaigned for BJP candidate Anil Antony, the son of Congress veteran AK Antony, on March 15 in Pathanamthitta.
In Telangana, the PM focussed on seats like Nagurkunool on March 16, a road show in Hyderabad on March 15 and Jagtial, Nizamabad on March 18.
In Karnataka, PM Modi chose Kalaburagi and Shimoga seats to kickstart his campaign from March 15. Kalaburagi, or Gulbarga, is a reserved seat and the bastion of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. PM Narendra Modi wants to send a clear message by taking on the opposition INDIA bloc in the Congress chief’s backyard.
On Monday, the Prime Minister was in Shimoga to honour former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who created the social base of the upper-caste group of Lingayats to become a mass leader. By campaigning in this Lok Sabha constituency, Modi will be showcasing the BJP’s commitment and support for Yediyurappa’s supremacy.
Modi has also held a big joint rally with Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan in Andhra Pradesh to send a univocal message of NDA unity in the state.
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