Modi on inauguration spree, says new project launches have nothing to do with Lok Sabha polls

Prime minister Narendra Modi, who had launched several developmental projects in different parts of the country in the past few days, on Sunday said that these launches and inaugurations were part of his government's continuing efforts to develop the country and that they should not be seen through ''electoral prism''.

Addressing a public meeting at Azamgarh after inaugurating the new airport and a university as well as virtually launching developmental projects worth thousands of crores across the country, Modi rejected assertions by his rivals that these projects were aimed at gaining mileage ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, which were barely a month away.

''These projects should be seen through an electoral prism...these are part of the efforts to develop the country...I am running myself to make the country a developed nation by 2047 and making the country run also along with me,'' he said.

''What used to happen in the past....the leaders used to announce schemes and projects before the polls and forgot about them afterwards...today the country can see that Modi is made of a different soil,'' the prime minister added.

Modi said that while his government was taking steps to develop the country the opposition I.N.D.I.A. alliance was busy weaving caste equations, vote bank politics and developing their families.

Seeking to reach out to the people in the eastern region, the prime minister said that this region had witnessed a ''politics of appeasement'' for decades but the people were now witnessing the politics of development. ''The politics of appeasement is losing its grip in the region with development,'' he added.

The choice of Azamgarh for the public meeting was significant as the region was considered to be a bastion of the Samajwadi Party (SP). In the 2019 LS polls and also in the 2022 state assembly polls, the BJP was not able to breach this SP bastion.

Earlier the prime minister, who arrived in his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi on Saturday night, undertook a roadshow there during which he was accorded a rousing reception and showered with flower petals by the people. People had lined up on both sides of the road during his 28-kilometre long roadshow.

Sporting 'tripunda' (three layered tilak on forehead) and carrying a trident, Modi also performed a puja in the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.