Periscope: Modi to visit Tripura, Rahul's dilemma in Karnataka, and more

On the campaign trail 

Ahead of the February 18 Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Tripura twice in two weeks to campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates. He will address two poll meetings at Kailashahar in Unakoti district and Shantirbazar in South Tripura on Thursday, state party president Biplab Kumar Deb said. He is scheduled to fly again to the state on February 15 to address public meetings. BJP President Amit Shah too will be camping in Tripura for a week to campaign for the candidates of the BJP-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura alliance. Results of the elections to the 60-member House will be declared on March 3. Shah will also visit Meghalaya and Nagaland, where the Assembly polls are due on February 27.

Balancing act 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to Palestine on Saturday. The visit comes days after Israel premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s New Delhi visit. The PM will hold a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Last month, India had joined 127 other countries to vote in the UN General Assembly in favour of a resolution opposing the US move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Modi will also visit Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In the UAE, he will attend the 'World Government Summit'.

Laying the groundwork 

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will kick-start his electioneering for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls on Saturday. The party has drawn up an 'aggressive' campaign plan at the grassroots to strengthen the booth-level management. The campaign will officially start with a rally at Hospet. Rahul Gandhi will travel to Koppal, Yadgiri, Raichur and Kalburgi by bus, and also visit several other parts of the state on February 12.

“For the next one month (entire February), there will be a massive and aggressive campaigning at the grassroots," Congress general secretary in-charge for Karnataka K C Venugopal said. Panchayat-level meetings will also be convened. “We have made several sub-groups at the booth-level, who will go on door-to-door campaigning from February 15 to March 1, collect data on electioneering and submit them to the Pradesh Congress Committee,” Venugopal explained.