PM in Jharkhand today, to inaugurate Deoghar airport, AIIMS

Modi will also dedicate to the nation the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Deoghar, which has come up at a cost of Rs 1100 crore.

The Deoghar airport will provide direct connectivity to Baidyanath Dham, a religious destination thronged by lakhs of pilgrims from across the country every year. The annual Shravani Mela fair at Baidyanath Dham begins next week.

Modi will also offer prayers at “Baba Dham”, said BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who represents the Godda Lok Sabha seat, under which Deoghar falls. “PM Modi will also hold his longest-ever roadshow, of 11.5 kilometres, in the district and later address a jan sabha,” a statement issued by the state BJP quoted him as saying.

Tuesday’s visit, Modi’s first to the state since 2019, is being seen as a show of support for Dubey, who has, of late, been training his guns on Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is under fire over the mining scam and the money laundering probe against his aide, Pankaj Mishra.

Last week, the ED raided more than a dozen premises linked to Mishra and seized around Rs 5.32 crore in cash.

A day before Modi’s visit, Soren held his own series of functions at Jamtara, about 70 kilometres from Deoghar. He laid the foundation of government schemes worth Rs 200 crore. Before Soren took to the dais, Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari lashed out at the BJP, accusing it of using the ED to “scare” the CM.

Then, without naming the BJP, Soren criticised the saffron party’s ‘double-engine’ government (the state was ruled by BJP before the 2019 polls). “There are reasons why the double-engine government of 20 years was ousted out of power in Jharkhand,” he said.