While Tamil Nadu has been stumbling upon the COVID-19 wave across the state amid the containment measures and lockdown, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, in the albeit of addressing the challenge posed by the outbreak, has been piled up with district tours across the state to unveil fresh projects.

The series of visits planned by the Chief Minister to the districts have been speculated that he has been eyeing to use the prospect of the outbreak to boost and enhance the campaign grounds for the 2021 state legislative elections, which is the first legislative election faced by Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Minister.

Amid the outrage over the Sathankulam custodial deaths and criticism over handling the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chief Minister has planned to visit most of the districts in the upcoming days. According to the reports, Edappadi Palaniswami has been expected to visit Erode and Krishnagiri districts on July 14, after the completion of the state's cabinet meeting. 

During his visit, he is expected to unveil the clearance for four industrial projects worth Rs 2,500 crore related to the auto components, paper, chemicals, and batteries. He would also discuss the COVID-19 situation, progress being made for the developmental programmes and he would also interact with the farmers and self-help group members in these districts during his visit. 

Following the visit, the reports say that he has planned to visit Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, and Ramanathapuram districts in the upcoming days and his visit would carry some of the senior government officials to the districts and it has been expected that the managers of the leading banks would be a part of the visit as the Chief Minister looks to remove the barriers that cause a delay in providing loans to people and the establishments that fall under the category of the MSMEs. 

As his government has increased the loan package to women self-help groups from 12,500 crores to 14,000 crores, the Chief Minister would also take stock of the situation of providing loans to such groups as he has been ramping up the campaign grounds for the upcoming state legislative elections. The Chief Minister had recently visited Trichy and Coimbatore districts during which he met with the farmers in Trichy.

While these project unveilings and the meets can be done through virtually, his preference of touring the state amid the lockdown and the grounds of COVID-19 spread in the Chief Secretariat has strongly been speculated that he has been eyeing to boost the campaign for the legislative polls in the midst of massive criticisms and allegations.