India is three days into the New Year and the political parties are gearing up for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, which is just a year away. The parties are approaching busy and bustling days to roll out intense political tours and extensive talks with the acquaintances to form and revive an alliance. As BJP has come up with an agenda, it also has made the other parties to prepare for the big political fight.

BJP has sketched a 'Mission 350' to win 350 Lok Sabha seats and to form the government at the Centre for the third consecutive time. On the other hand, the opposition Congress is hoping to lubricate its fight through the reception it has been gaining from Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. While these two top parties have been planning a whirlwind campaign tour across the nation, the regional parties would plunge into taking efforts to triumph in their respective states. 

As Union Home Minister Amit Shah is all set to begin his national tour this month, speculations are rife both on how the parties could outsmart each other and the probable constituencies where the Central leaders would contest from. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha through his landslide victory in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, has this time planned to contest from the South, particularly from Tamil Nadu. 

According to reports, Modi is expected to contest from the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu, which would be his first direct venture in the deep south. It has also been reported that Ramanathapuram would be the back-up constituency for Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as he would keep his favourite Varanasi as his primary pick. 

Modi is expected to contest from both these constituencies like how he did during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he contested from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and from Vadodara, Gujarat. While he won both the seats, he relinquished Vadodara and kept Varanasi with him. Five years later, he again contested from Varanasi and secured 6,74,664 votes and won the race at a margin of 4,79,505 votes.

He formed the government for the second consecutive term and as he is ramping up to have a historical third term, Modi has decided to lock Varanasi and Ramanathapuram constituencies for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. On why he has chosen Ramanathapuram, the reports say that as Ramanathapuram is a paramount city for culture and spirituality and hosts Rameswaram, a popular Hindu pilgrim city which is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Ramanathapuram is in a similar fashion to Varanasi and his victory from the anti-BJP state would boost his leadership and the party. 

While there has been no official statement from the BJP, the political observers say that though he would contest from Ramanathapuram and Varanasi, the favourable wave from Varanasi would take him to the shore of victory and he would more likely drop Ramanathapuram in the midst of assaying to strengthen the party in Tamil Nadu, being the national face of the party.