Mangaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit this coastal city of Mangaluru on Friday afternoon to inaugurate several projects and also lay the foundation stone for some other projects total worth around Rs 3,800 crore. Later, he will address a meeting. The PM's visit is expected to boost the future chances of the Karnataka BJP unit ahead of the Assembly polls slated for next year. The BJP leadership is aiming to regain power in the state by setting a target to win at least 150 of the total 224 seats.
According to party and official sources, the Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive at the Mangaluru International Airport around 1.30 pm, from where he will fly to New Mangaluru Port Authority (NMPA) premises at Panambur by a chopper. After inaugurating various projects there, he will arrive at the Goldfinch city grounds here to attend an official public event. Nearly two lakh people are likely to attend the event at Goldfinch city grounds. The district administration is mobilising about 70,000 beneficiaries of various Union government welfare schemes.
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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, a host of state ministers, BJP legislators and leaders are likely to participate in the event. Party workers are likely to come from various parts of Dakshina Kannada district and neighbouring Udupi.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the city for the PM's visit. The visit to Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district is seen as significant after recent incidents of "communal" murders, including that of BJP activist Praveen Nettar near here, which triggered widespread protests. There was also a spate of resignations by some of its Yuva Morcha members and workers at various places across Karnataka, accusing the state government of not standing up to protect the lives of Hindu 'karyakartas'.
Several Hindutva ideologues and organisations, too, had expressed their angst against the government. The visit is also coming at a time when the BJP government is facing corruption charges of "40 per cent commission" in public works by the state contractors' association, and also allegations of irregularities in several departments by certain organisations and opposition parties, especially the Congress.
During this visit, PM Modi will inaugurate two projects undertaken by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited worth Rs 1,830 crore and Rs 680 crore respectively. After attending all the programmes, the Prime Minister will arrive at the Mangalore International Airport by helicopter from NMPA helipad at 4 pm and from there he will leave for Delhi by a special flight.
