Target 370: PM Modi to hold mega rallies in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bengal

With hardly any time left for the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on a whirlwind tour of the country, from Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the south to Maharashtra in the west.

Modi will be on a two-day visit to Kerala and Tamil Nadu on February 27-28. He will land in Thiruvananthapuram on February 27 and kick off his visit with the tour of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, followed by launch of several development projects. He will also address a mega public rally in the state capital.

Subsequently, Modi will participate in an event to mark the closing day of the ‘padayatra’ undertaken by BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai. He will also visit Madurai for a digital mobility event for the MSME sector.

On February 28, the prime minister will participate in government programmes in Tamil Nadu, where he will place the foundation stone and inaugurate several development projects in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin). This is the constituency of K Kanimozhi, daughter of K Karunanidhi and sister of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.

Eyeing south

Not surprisingly, this is Modi’s third visit to the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu this year. With the party already confident of doing well in the northern states, PM Modi is now eyeing the south to expand BJP’s footprints in the country.

Of the 59 Lok Sabha seats, 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and 20 in Kerala, the BJP doesn’t have a single MP. Similarly, the party delivered a dismal performance in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, as it failed to win even a single seat of the total 25. It performed comparatively well in Telangana, as it managed to win 4 of 17 Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP won it big in the neighbouring Karnataka where the party secured 25 of the 29 seats. However, it won’t be easy for the party to repeat its performance this time as it was thrown out of power last year. Though the BJP has forged an alliance with the JD(S), only time will tell how far it will recover from the assembly poll defeat.

Maharashtra

PM Modi will arrive in Maharashtra on Friday 28 evening. He is expected to inaugurate several development projects in Yavatmal. The BJP has pulled out all stops to ensure that they win maximum number of seats from the state that sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Interestingly, political equations have changed drastically since the last elections, both in the Centre and the state assembly in Maharashtra. The BJP and the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray had a bitter fallout after they secured 17 seats each in the last Lok Sabha elections. The Shiv Sena snapped its ties with the BJP to forge an alliance with the NCP and the Congress to form MVA government in Maharashtra. However, a rebellion by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde led to a split in the Sena and the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray government in June last year. Later, NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew caused a split in his party and joined the NDA government in Maharashtra led by Shinde.

Now, both the Congress and the BJP will be contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections with one faction each of Shiv Sena and NCP as their allies.

West Bengal

PM Modi is expected to visit West Bengal for two trips early next month. Sources said he will address a public rally in Arambagh on March 1. He will be in Krishna Nagar for programmes and public rally on March 2.

Interestingly, Krishna Nagar is the constituency from where Mahua Moitra won the election in 2019. She was recently stripped of her Lok Sabha membership following her alleged involvement in the cash-for-query scam.

However, all eyes will be on his public rally in Barasat on March 6. The state BJP is gearing up to bring close to 2 lakh women to attend this rally, which will take place in the same district as Sandeshkhali, where trouble has been mounting for the last couple of weeks. It is also being seen as a major face-off between the TMC-led state government and the principal opposition BJP.

The BJP has been on the offensive against the TMC ever since the Sandeshkhali row has broken out. Dubbed as a party of outsiders, the BJP, which had just two seats in the 2014 elections, stunned many by securing 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.