PM to make seventh visit to Karnataka on March 25

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a visit to poll-bound Karnataka on March 25 — his seventh this year — during which he will take part in various events including a Metro ride, and address a mega public meeting organised by the BJP. Assembly polls are due by May, and the schedule is likely to be announced by the Election Commission in the coming days. During the visit, the Prime Minister will participate in programmes organised in Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru, and Davangere districts.

According to an official release, the Prime Minister on his arrival here in the morning on that day, will travel to Chikkaballapura by helicopter to inaugurate Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research there. He will then fly back to Bengaluru in the afternoon to inaugurate the Whitefield Metro Line and will ride in the Metro.

Modi will then proceed to Davangere to address a public meeting, and after that will proceed to Shivamogga to emplane for Delhi from Shivamogga Airport. Though details about the public meeting have not been shared in the official release, it is said to be a mega rally of the ruling BJP as part of its poll preparations in Karnataka.

Karnataka BJP and its leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai have said that Modi will attend a mega rally in the district headquarters town of Davangere on March 25, to mark the culmination of the 8,000-km long ‘Vijay Sankalpa Yatre’. The 20 day state-wide tour, which began from four different parts of the state, in specially designed vehicles or ‘Rathas’, was kickstarted on March 1 by BJP national President J P Nadda at Male Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagar district.

Several senior BJP leaders, Chief Ministers of other BJP-governed states, and Union Ministers have taken part in the programme. This is said to be the first party meeting, which the Prime Minister will be attending, since the poll preparations began in Karnataka. According to party functionaries, the event is aimed at energising the BJP cadres in the run-up to Assembly polls. BJP, which aims to come back to power in the state with an absolute majority this time, has set a target of winning at least 150 of the total 224 seats in the Assembly.