Modi To Visit Solapur On CPM Leader’s Invite

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slated visit to Solapur in south Maharashtra will be significant for two reasons. Firstly, he will be arriving at the invitation of a CPM leader. Secondly, it will be his second state tour within a week’s time. As Maharashtra is the second largest state which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, Modi’s focus on it is being interpreted as a strategy to propagate his bid for the third consecutive term to rule the country. CPM firebrand leader Narasayya Adam has invited Modi to inaugurate a huge housing scheme the former MLA conceived for the unorganised working class. Modi had performed the bhoomi poojan of the scheme in 2019 and had promised to inaugurate it while responding to Adam’s appeal at that event. Adam was criticised at the time by several Opposition leaders for this gesture but had remained firm and has now extended the invite to the PM. During the visit, Modi is expected to green flag several infrastructure projects for that region, situated along the border with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. A traditional Congress bastion which had elected veteran leader Sushilkumar Shinde repeatedly, the Solapur LS seat has been won by the BJP in 2014 and 2019. Given the various political permutations and combinations, the BJP is keen on retaining it this time, too. Modi was in Nasik and Mumbai on 12 January. Hence, his Solapur visit is viewed as a shot in the arm for the state’s Mahayuti ruling alliance.