For the second time in as many weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Maharashtra to inaugurate government projects. On Friday, exactly a week after he unveiled the country’s longest bridge Atal Setu and inaugurated and laid the foundation of more projects worth almost Rs 15,000 crore, Modi will be in Solapur to inaugurate what has been billed as the largest low-cost housing project in the country and lay the foundation of eight AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) projects worth around Rs 2,000 crore.

The PM’s frequent visits to the state illustrate the BJP’s attempts to leverage his popularity and his government’s development message to consolidate its position and win the maximum seats possible in Maharashtra, which sends the most parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha (48) after Uttar Pradesh (80). For the coming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has set itself a target of 45-plus seats in Maharashtra, according to party insiders. In the last two elections, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 constituencies as part of an alliance. With both the Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) enfeebled by splits and unwilling to leave it entirely on its state leadership, the BJP hopes to gain an unassailable lead over the Opposition before the Lok Sabha battle begins.

“When any project no matter how small or big is inaugurated by the PM, its impact transcends the constituency and region. So, it will be difficult to quantify in terms of number of seats. The impact of the PM’s Nagpur visit in December 2022, when he dedicated the Samruddhi Mahamarg, would have been across the 14 districts of Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra,” said a BJP functionary who did not wish to be named.

That Nagpur visit was the PM’s first since the Eknath Shinde-led government took over in June 2022 following the split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration. Since then, he has visited six more times in 13 months, with the Solapur event set to be Modi’s eighth visit to the state since the Shinde government came to power.

However, not all of the visits have been for big-ticket projects such as the Atal Setu. In February 2023, apart from flagging off two Vande Bharat trains linking Mumbai to the important pilgrimage centres of Shirdi and Solapur, the PM inaugurated the Santacruz-Chembur link road and the Kurar underpass aimed at decongesting traffic in the city. Seven months later, in August, during a visit to Pune for an event where he shared the stage with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Modi also flagged off a metro train and laid the foundation of an energy plant for the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. The following month, Modi visited Ahmednagar district and dedicated the left bank canal network of the Nilwande Dam to people, a Rs 5,177-crore irrigation project that had been pending for three decades. The same day, he visited the Shirdi Temple and inaugurated a state-of-the-art air-conditioned waiting room facility for pilgrims.

In his previous visits, the PM has covered at least 15 crucial Lok Sabha constituencies such as Nagpur, Pune, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, Nashik, Sindhudurg, and Solapur. These also include the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai — Mumbai South, Mumbai North, Mumbai, South Central, Mumbai North East, and Mumbai North West — that the PM has covered during his two visits to the city so far. The party estimates that the visit to Navi Mumbai last week will have an impact on the constituencies of Thane and Raigad.

“The PM of India is expected to focus on a larger agenda related to international and economy. But Modi’s BJP has brought a new model. They cannot think beyond politics and polls. All the state projects that should be left to the CM or the Deputy CMs are being inaugurated by the PM,” said Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar, whose party is now part of both the MVA and the INDIA alliance nationally. “Somewhere it shows the ongoing Maratha versus OBC polarisation on reservation has become a cause of concern for the BJP. It is a poor reflection on state leaders and government.”

The Congress also took a dig at the BJP over the PM’s visits to the state, saying it is a reflection of the state BJP’s weaknesses. “If the PM has to come every month to state, it shows how weak the BJP has become in Maharashtra. It is no longer confident of public support,” said state Congress president Nana Patole.

Responding to the Opposition’s comments, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Here we have a PM who is pursuing a development agenda. It is our good fortune to have a leader who is concerned about people and their upliftment. Moreover, all the promises made by the PM and BJP are being delivered in record time. As a party, we are bound to project our achievements. What is wrong with that? The PM heads the country and people acknowledge his leadership. His message goes beyond state and region.”