PM Modi to visit poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Chhattisgarh on Thursday and Madhya Pradesh later this month to inaugurate development projects and address a public meeting in the states which are due for assembly elections at year-end.

The visits are expected to give a fillip to the BJP’s push to retain power in the two states, which go to the polls a few months ahead of the general election.

Modi will on Thursday dedicate to the nation the modernised and expanded plant of the state-run steelmaker SAIL in Bhilai, officials familiar with the matter said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate SAIL’s modernised and expanded Bhilai Steel Plant, Bhilai Chhattisgarh to the nation on 14 June,” a SAIL official said.

During his two-hour stay in Bhilai, Modi is also scheduled to inaugurate a new building of IIT and address a public meeting.

“All the senior leaders of the party from across the state have been called for this event,” Chhattisgarh BJP spokesperson Sacchinand Upasane said. “Since BJP president Amit Shah ji has given us the target of 65 plus seats in the state, Modi ji’s visit will help us accelerate the election campaign,” he added.

This is Modi’s second visit to Chhattisgarh in as many months.

In Madhya Pradesh, the PM will inaugurate the Vikas Parv, a fortnight dedicated to development, on June 23, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

Modi could give the Swachh City award to the municipal corporation of Indore, which topped the list of clean cities surveyed under the central government’s cleanliness campaign, official sources said.

He is expected inaugurate an irrigation scheme and address a rally in Rajgarh as well, official sources said.

Reacting to the news of Modi’s planned visits, Chhattisgarh Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said: “They know they are losing Chhattisgarh, MP and Rajasthan and hence Modi ji is frequently visiting these states.” An internal survey had found that the BJP would lose Chhattisgarh by a huge margin and that was the reason why Modi and Amit Shah had taken over the campaign, he said.

However, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said the PM’s visit was only about development projects. “We can’t help if Congress sees politics in PM’s programmes all the time,” he said.