Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Sunday, March 1, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state and the Union Territory slated for April–May.
In Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister will unveil infrastructure projects worth Rs 4,400 crore. These include the fourth railway line on the Chennai suburban network between Chennai Beach and Chennai Egmore. He will also inaugurate eight redeveloped railway stations across the state in Morappur, Bommidi, Srivilliputhur, Cholavandan, Manapparai, Pollachi Junction, Karaikudi Junction and Tiruvarur Junction.
He is further expected to lay the foundation stone for widening the Marakkanam–Puducherry stretch of NH-332A and the Paramakudi–Ramanathapuram section of NH-87, both of which will be upgraded into four-lane highways.
In Puducherry, projects worth Rs 2,700 crore are set to be inaugurated. These include the rollout of e-buses under the PM e-Bus Seva initiative, the Integrated Command and Control Centre under the Smart City Mission, and housing tenements for Economically Weaker Sections under the CITIIS initiative.
The Prime Minister will also open the 750-acre Karasur–Sedarapet Industrial Estate, which is set to house a Pharma Park, Textile Park, IT Park, a state-of-the-art research and development centre of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and advanced healthcare facilities of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).
Ahead of the elections, Modi is also scheduled to visit the Arulmigu Subramaniyaswamy Temple at Thiruparankundram in Madurai. The temple became a focal point of controversy in December 2025 after Hindutva organisations demanded permission to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp on a stone pillar near the Hazrat Sultan Sikandar Badshah Dargah, also located in Thiruparankundram. The Prime Minister had referred to the issue during a previous visit to Tamil Nadu.
The Thiruparankundram hillock in Madurai, a multi-religious pilgrimage site, witnessed tensions after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court permitted the lighting of the lamp, while the Tamil Nadu government opposed the move citing potential communal unrest.
Modi landed in Chennai at around 9 pm on Saturday, February 28, and is scheduled to travel to Puducherry on Sunday morning before proceeding to Madurai.