Ahead of the summer’s parliamentary elections Prime Minister Narendra Modi will, just as he did in 2019, travel around the country, inaugurating or launching infrastructure projects, and speaking about his government’s development and welfare record, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

It may be premature to draw any conclusions from this, but, if the PM’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday and his comments during his visit to Goa on Tuesday are any indication, governance could well get precedence over the Ram Temple in the party’s election campaign.

The PM’s travels actually began over the weekend, with Odisha and Assam, and he will be travelling for at least 15 days this month, including a visit to the UAE from which much is expected, the people cited in the first instance said, adding that most of Modi’s speeches will emphasise his government’s record.

The focus is very clear– the Prime Minister will travel across the country to oversee the completion of several infra projects. So, his messaging is going to focus on his government’s development work in the last 10 years,’’ said one of the people, a senior official involved in planning the events. While January saw the Prime Minister focusing on the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, his speech in Parliament on Monday had no reference of the temple. His two speeches in Goa again focused on the work done by his government, highlighting projects like the housing scheme and empowerment of women.