PM Modi launches slew of projects in poll-bound Karnataka

Bengaluru: BJP heavyweights ranging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Rajnath Singh, along with Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, virtually painted the state saffron on Monday by launching multiple projects and stepping on the campaign theme of “vikas”, or development.

This is incidentally the seventh visit of the Prime Minister to this poll-bound state. Sources said Modi may increase the frequency of his visits as the elections draw closer. Frequent visits by the PM and the BJP’s top leadership has made it quite evident that the BJP is now determined to go full steam ahead in the high-stakes Karnataka polls, due in April-May this year. Besides the visits, both Bommai and his mentor, B.S. Yediyurappa, have joined forces to enable the party to return to power.  The major campaign plank for the ruling party is “development” and the “advancement of Karnataka” in various sectors.

The Prime Minister, while inaugurating the “India Energy Week 2023”, spoke of youth power and reminded everyone that this was the first major energy event” as India moves towards hosting the G-20 summit. Chief minister Bommai said Karnataka “is in first place for manufacturing nearly 50 per cent of the country’s total renewable energy”. The Prime Minister also exhorted global investors and stakeholders to invest in India. “Today India is the most suitable place for your investment,” he asserted. The chief minister said that Karnataka “has emerged as the highest renewable energy manufacturer in India”.

Later, while speaking at the function after the dedication of the Helicopter Manufacturing Facility of HAL at Bidare Kaval in Gubbi taluk of Tumakuru district, which will be one of the biggest such units in Asia, the Prime Minister pointed out that under “Made in India” defence exports of the country had increased by manifolds after 2014 and also investments in aerospace had increased by five times when compared to the period before 2014. “I’m happy that defence weapons are now made in the country such as assault rifles, tanks, aircraft, helicopters, and fighter jets, among others,” the PM said.

To his political critics, Modi said: “It is this HAL which is now making progress in the defence sector”, and exuded confidence that the helicopter factory of HAL in Tumakuru would do about Rs 4 lakh crores in business in the coming days and help provide employment and also help small businesses thrive. HAL’s helicopter factory -- known as the “Greenfield Helicopter Factory” -- is India’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility.

Prime Minister Modi referred to the charges against HAL by political leaders and termed the charges as “false.” He said many top leaders had levelled “false” charges against HAL and stalled Parliament for hours. Now, Mr Modi said, the “truth is speaking for itself” and went on to laud HAL for making the modern Tejas fighter jets.

Thanking Prime Minister Modi for holding India Energy Week-2023 in Bengaluru, the CM said Mr Modi brought revolutionary changes in the field of energy.

Besides inaugurating Energy Week and opening the HAL unit, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stones of the industrial township and Jeevan Mission projects in Tumakuru. The development of the Tumakuru industrial township across 8,484 acres in three phases has been taken up as part of the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.