PM Modi at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Poorvanchal Expressway, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: As he spends a rare night outside the capital in his constituency Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accelerating the pace of his public engagements, inaugurating projects, dwelling on welfare and farm schemes and reminding audiences of Congress’s “scam tainted” legacy.

Though the next round of state elections is more than three months away, the PM is firmly in poll mode, even targeting the Lok Sabha elections due next year as he repeatedly drives home the political message that he has delivered on the promise to provide an accountable government that is a break from the past.

As he elaborates initiatives like Swacchh Bharat and Ujjwala and outlines his ambitious healthcare and farm income support plans, Modi focusses on a key government agenda: delivering essentials like power connections, bank accounts, medicines and hospital services, cooking gas and LED bulbs, at affordable costs.

<br/>In countering opposition attacks, he singles out Congress , and uses even government functions, as he did in Rajasthan recently , to slam the rival as corrupt and inefficient, as he ensures the latter remains as much in focus as NDA programmes. The strategy to make Congress a central issue factors in inevitable shortcoming in implementing major national programmes and is intended to paint a worse alternative.

A “thanks giving” rally organised by BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the recent hike in minimum support prices for crops in Punjab saw the PM speak of the income stability promised by the new measures and the weekend visit to east UP will see him dedicate dozens of projects.

The foundation stone of the Purvanchal expressway in Azamgarh and a public address explaining the rural focus of his government are highlights. The expressway aims to connect east UP with Lucknow and the Azamgarh MP is SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Wresting this seat with a strong Muslim-Yadav presence will be a prize achievement for BJP as it gears to the likely SP-BSP alliance.

Modi is scheduled to address a rally in West Midnapore in West Bengal on July 16 where again the MSP decision will be in discussion with the state’s paddy farmers likely to be significant beneficiaries as prices remain below the 1.5 times of cost promised by the Centre. The rally comes days after BJP chief Amit Shah’s public meeting at Purulia, reflecting the focus on the state.

There is a possibility that Modi will fly to Karnataka from Mirzapur on Sunday before reaching West Bengal next day. In the middle of the monsoon session of Parliament that begins next week, Modi will visit Shahjahanpur on July 21, followed by another political rally in Lucknow on July 29.

The PM is scheduled to visit Gujarat on July 20 for programmes that include dedicating two lakh houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Valsad and thereafter he will be at Junagadh in Saurashtra region.

Modi’s campaign is set to intensify from October 2 when he will launch a year-long countrywide campaign to celebrate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi under the “clean India” slogan. He recently launched the Mohanpura irrigation project in Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh. The Rs 3,866-crore project includes a dam and a canal system. He dedicated an integrated centre at Naya Raipur — the upcoming capital of Chhattisgarh and in Jaipur laid foundation for 13 infrastructure projects worth Rs 2,100 crore.

