Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a jam-packed itinerary for the next two days as he embarks on a visit to four southern states – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — on Friday.
During his tour of the four southern states from November 11-12, PM Modi flagged off the south’s first Vande Bharat express, inaugurated an airport terminal and is slated to launch development projects worth over Rs 25,000 crore.
First on the Prime Minister’s agenda is BJP-ruled Karnataka. PM Modi began his programme on Friday morning by paying floral tributes to the statues of saint-poets Kanaka Dasa and Maharshi Valmiki at state secretariat Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
He then headed to Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Railway Station, where he flagged off the Mysuru-Chennai Vande Bharat Express. This is the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in the country and the first one in south India. It is expected to enhance connectivity between the industrial hub of Chennai and the tech and start-up hub of Bengaluru and the famous tourist city of Mysuru.
He also flagged off the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train. According to the PMO release, Karnataka is the first state to take up this train under the Bharat Gaurav scheme in which the Government of Karnataka and Ministry of Railways are working together to send pilgrims from the state to Kashi.