Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit poll-bound Karnataka on March 12 and inaugurate the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway at Gejjalagere in Mandya.
Mr. Modi will also perform the ground breaking ceremony for the greenfield Mysuru-Kushalnagar four-lane highway project, to be developed at a cost of ₹3,560 crore.
The inauguration of the expressway project at Mandya which is not even the midpoint between the two cities, and the Mysuru-Kushalnagar highway which only skirts the district- is not surprising.
For, the BJP is trying to broaden its support base in the Vokkaliga heartland from where it drew a blank in the 2018 elections. Incidentally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also inaugurated a mega diary at Gejjalagere besides addressing a public rally in Mandya in December underlining the party’s thrust to make inroads in a region which is the bastion of the Janata Dal (Secular) with the Congress coming close behind.
Meanwhile, the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Coals and Mines Pralhad Joshi visited Gejjalagere on Friday to apprise himself of the preparations.
He later told media persons that they expect nearly 1 lakh people to be present at the venue and in case there was a road show then an additional 30,000 to 40,000 people may turn up.
He said the BJP was laying emphasis on infrastructure development and the reduction in commuting time between the two cities from nearly 3 hours to about 75 minutes as a result of the Expressway project was a pointer to it.
Mr. Joshi said that the Prime Minister was keen on reduction of the logistic cost from about 12 per cent of the GDP at present to 7 or 8 per cent of the GDP by 2030. Hence the BJP was creating world class infrastructure project by way of new highways, expansion of railways, airways and waterways towards which ₹10 lakh crore has been earmarked in the budget for 2023-24, he added.
‘’At present both the logistic cost and the turnover time in India was amongst the highest in the world and the thrust on infrastructure development was bound to reduce it in the years ahead. Reduction in logistic cost will make the country more competitive’’, Mr. Joshi added.
He was accompanied by Minister for Excise K. Gopalaiah, Minister for Sericulture K.C. Narayana Gowda, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh and senior officials of the district administration.
