Modi-Shah bound for South ahead of Karnataka, Telangana 2023 polls

Both Karnataka and Telangana are going to Assembly polls this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah have pre-arranged engagements in the two south Indian States today.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah have pre-arranged engagements in the two south Indian States of Karnataka and Telangana respectively today. Incidentally, Karnataka is going to its Assembly elections in the coming May month while Telangana is slated for the polls in December this year. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and cadres in both States are upbeat over the visits of their leaders.

The south-bound Modi-Shah are obviously aiming to repeat poll gains their party has achieved in North East recently and in Gujarat last year, political observers say. In both Karnataka and Telangana, it is going to be a tough test for the saffron brigade in this year's elections. After the Bharat Jodo Yatra of All India Congress Committee former president Rahul Gandhi, the cadres of the grand old party are infused with a new enthusiasm to unseat the BJP from power in the two southern States.

For the Congress, the coming Assembly elections this year will be do-or-die events. Already, the grand old party has bitten the dust in Andhra Pradesh as it got less than one per cent vote share in the 2019 AP Assembly elections. It has fewer chances of revival in Tamil Nadu and also lost much ground in Kerala too. Only in Karnataka and Telangana, the Congress seems to enjoy considerable strength to confront the rivals head-on in south India.

On the other hand, the BJP is making continued efforts to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu by taking advantage of the leadership tussle in the AIADMK after the demise of Jayalalithaa. It is also aiming at gaining strength in the communist stronghold of Kerala. On account of local community-based politics, the saffron party is losing whatever hold it has in AP.