Prime minister Narendra Modi is planning to visit the southern states, West Bengal and Assam more frequently to garner more support for BJP in these parts of the country. Till now BJP is more of a north Indian entity. But, Modi wants to change that perception. He has visited Kerala and Tamil Nadu last week. He inaugurated a slew of projects including the extension of Chennai Metro Rail Phase 1 and a Discovery Campus for IIT Madras. He also launched five projects in Kerala that would energise the growth projectory of the country. Assembly elections will be held in Tamil Nadu and Keala in the next few months.
During the budget, the central government announced special projects for poll-bound states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam. Modi is not thinking of any political dividend now, but he is eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Since the farmers agitation has antagonised some farmers from the BJP, Modi is trying to garner more MPs from the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to compensate the possible loss. He is also concentrating on West Bengal and Assam. At present there is no BJP MP from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The BJP's support base is also negligible in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Telengana. BJP has the support of 18 MPs in West Bengal after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Now Modi is aiming to increase the tally there.
During his visit to Kerala, the Prime Minister assured the Indian diaspora in Gulf countries that his government is committed for their welfare. Many of the Gulf countries responded positively to call for the release of Indians who were imprisoned in the jails, he said. Modi said he had the opportunity to interact with the Indian diaspora in the Gulf countries during his visit to UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.
Around 50,00,000 people were brought back to the country under the Vande Bharath programme and a large number of them were Keralites, he said. Modi said the centre has earmarked funds in the annual budget for several development projects including the second phase of the Kochi metro rail project.
In Chennai, Modi spoke about the support to displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the Tamil fishermen captured by Sri Lanka.
