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Modi to kick off projects worth ₹3.8k cr in Mangaluru
The Prime Minister will also attend a core-committee meeting of the state unit with chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, his predecessor and BJP parliamentary board member, BS Yediyurappa and other senior leaders of the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to visit the state, on Friday, will inaugurate and lay the foundation for several development works in Dakshina Kannada, about 350 km from Bengaluru.
“Tomorrow, 2nd September I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Mangaluru. Key projects worth ₹3,800 crore will be inaugurated or their foundation stones would be laid. These important works are related to mechanisation and industrialisation,” the Prime Minister said in a post on Twitter.
The Prime Minister will also attend a core-committee meeting of the state unit with chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, his predecessor and BJP parliamentary board member, BS Yediyurappa and other senior leaders of the party.
The visit comes at a time when the entire coastal region, especially Dakshina Kannada, has seen youth workers from the region lash out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in the state for failing to develop the region and providing security to its own party members. On July 26, BJP’s youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru was murdered in the district after which several party workers protested against the Basavaraj Bommai-led government in Karnataka.
Three murders took place between July 19 and July 28, adding to communal tensions in the sensitive region of the state which several fear will only get worse with assembly elections fast approaching.
With speculation rife of a possible change in leadership before the 2023 assembly elections, rumour mills are abuzz on who will be the possible replacement for the incumbent state BJP president, Nalin Kumar Kateel, who recently completed three years as the chief of the saffron outfit in Karnataka.
A campaign poster calling for Kateel’s ouster before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mangaluru is also doing the rounds, HT had reported on August 24. The poster in Kannada reads; “Along with Hindutva, we need the development of Mangaluru and for this a leader with a long-term vision.”
The BJP has already planned six rallies across the state in September and October and are hoping to get the backing of Modi to overcome the wave of allegations against the state government, including corruption, infighting and lack of development, to tide over the crisis and help it return to power in 2023.
The Prime Minister will address a gathering, estimated to have around 1 lakh people, on the outskirts of Mangaluru.
In another development, the district administration has issued an order to ferry people from their villages to the venue and booked 2000 buses for the same.
“We have booked over 2000 buses to ferry beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and other schemes. I would request all the public to come to the venue by 11.30 am for security reasons. There will be food served to all,”Sunil Kumar, Karnataka’s minister for energy, Kannada & culture, said.
Though it’s not uncommon for the party to make these arrangements, there have been questions raised on the government issuing orders to ferry people for a rally.
According to the local government offices in Dakshina Kannada, orders have been issued by the tehsildar and even nominated officials to make arrangements of ferrying people from their homes to the rally and back.
“Its not for the common public. People who have used the government benefits, it is for them. One has to understand that this is an authorised official programme. People from all parties, all the elected representatives, central government beneficiaries, whoever is interested to come, can participate. For that we have arranged the buses. The New Mangalore Port Authority and MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited) has given support for the same,” Rajendra KV, the deputy commissioner for Dakshina Kannada said.
However, the Congress, the principal opposition in Karnataka, has hit out at the move to deploy government machinery to bring in crowds to attend the Prime Minister’s rally.
“Just like the state government in Karnataka has a manufactured majority, they are trying to manufacture the popularity of Modi,” Priyank Kharge, Congress legislator and chairman of the party’s communications wing said.
“That is very evident from the fact that you are appointing nodal officers to bring people right from the gram panchayat levels. If Modi was so popular and his schemes have reached the people, shouldn’t they be coming in just like how they did for Indira Gandhi or Rajeev Gandhi. It is manufactured Modi manifestation,”Kharge said.
