PM Modi to address rallies in three southern states on 18 March; Exceptional Fervour in NDA’s favour, says Modi

I will be addressing rallies in Jagtial and Shivamogga today. Later in the evening, will join the roadshow in Coimbatore. Be it Telangana, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, there is exceptional fervour in the NDA’s favour.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2024

The roadshow in Coimbatore was green-flagged by the Madras High Court earlier. The court asked the police to allow it with reasonable conditions.

The Coimbatore BJP unit had on Friday, 15 March, moved the high court against the local police denying permission to the PM event, citing, among others, the “communally sensitive” nature of the area, and the ongoing public exams.

However, the court dismissed the contentions and asked the police to allow the roadshow with “reasonable conditions”, such as erecting no flex boards for the organisers.

The PM will take out the roadshow in the city’s Mettupalayam Road and is likely to end it at RS Puram later on Monday.

This will be his first political engagement in the state after the announcement of the seven-phase schedule of the Lok Sabha polls.

Also Read: Ahead of Modi’s visit to Shivamogga, Congress raises pending MGNREGA wages, drought relief

Significance of the places

The meeting in Jagitial, Telangana is also expected to have an impact on the neighbouring Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency as well. Both Nizamabad and Karimnagar are held by the BJP in the outgoing Lok Sabha.

BJP won four out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in the 2019 general elections and is looking to improve its tally in 2024, where it will be going solo.

📍Jagtial, Telangana

all set to welcome and eager to hear PM Shri @NarendraModi ji’s address at the Vijaya Sankalpa Sabha#MarosariModiSarkar pic.twitter.com/zS1QzPaDFk

— G Kishan Reddy (Modi Ka Parivar) (@kishanreddybjp) March 18, 2024

While Coimbatore has elected then BJP leader and present Jharkhand Governor, CP Radhakrishnan twice to the Lok Sabha, in the late 90s.

The district also elected one BJP MLA in the 2021 assembly polls, out of the total four that the party has in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Also Read: PM Modi to address rally in TN as part of South push

Electoral inroads in south

Winning more seats from Telangana forms part of the BJP’s plan to make significant electoral inroads in the south.

Modi has already held a roadshow in the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in Hyderabad and addressed a public meeting at Nagarkurnool in the state last week.

In the rally at Nagarkurnool on 16 March, a day after the arrest of BRS leader K Kavitha in a money-laundering case, Modi alleged that the BRS has entered into a partnership with other “hardcore corrupt parties” while asserting that no corrupt person will be able to escape.

He had also sought the blessings of the Telangana people in the fight against corruption. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister had attended various development programmes in Telangana.

The BJP, with a newfound vigour under its aggressive Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai, is making all efforts to make significant inroads into Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian heartland that has always favoured the DMK and the AIADMK, or alliances led by them in the hustings.

The saffron party is also in the process of stitching up a non-DMK, non-AIADMK alliance for the upcoming polls.

Polling in Telangana will be held on 13 May, while single-phase polling to Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats and the lone segment in Union Territory Puducherry, will be held on 19 April.

Als0 Read: PM Modi hits the ground running in Hyderabad with roadshow; more meetings ahead

(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)