Modi, Maharashtra, polls: Ahead of LS elections, PM steps up visits to key battleground

For the second time in as many weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Maharashtra to inaugurate government projects. On Friday, exactly a week after he unveiled the country’s longest bridge Atal Setu and inaugurated and laid the foundation of more projects worth almost Rs 15,000 crore, Modi will be in Solapur to inaugurate what has been billed as the largest low-cost housing project in the country and lay the foundation of eight AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) projects worth around Rs 2,000 crore.

The PM’s frequent visits to the state illustrate the BJP’s attempts to leverage his popularity and his government’s development message to consolidate its position and win the maximum seats possible in Maharashtra, which sends the most parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha (48) after Uttar Pradesh (80). For the coming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has set itself a target of 45-plus seats in Maharashtra, according to party insiders. In the last two elections, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 constituencies as part of an alliance. With both the Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) enfeebled by splits and unwilling to leave it entirely on its state leadership, the BJP hopes to gain an unassailable leader over the Opposition before the Lok Sabha battle begins.

“When any project no matter how small or big is inaugurated by the PM, its impact transcends the constituency and region. So, it will be difficult to quantify in terms of number of seats. The impact of the PM’s Nagpur visit in December 2022, when he dedicated the Samruddhi Mahamarg, would have been across the 14 districts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra,” said a BJP functionary who did not wish to be named.

That