Election frenzy gets to Modi, no foreign visits planned for first 4 months of 2019

New Delhi, Dec 26: With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who otherwise makes frequent foreign visits, will not be going abroad in the first four months of 2019. The Prime Minister would focus on local issues and, maybe, after March on the campaigning.

Lok Sabha elections 2019 would be a big challenge for Modi especially with the opposition parties joining hands to defeat the BJP which has been in power since 2014. Anti-incumbency factor and a host of other issues which the opposition parties have been raking up are some things for which the BJP needs to come up with answers during the campaigning.

Moreover, there are no major multilateral events in the coming months - at least not any that require the PM's participation said an HT report while quoting sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited 22 countries in 2018, nine more compared to 2017. In 2017, he had visited 13 countries, including eight state visits. Last year, the number of countries were six less compared to 2016.

As of December 2018, PM Modi has made 41 foreign trips on six continents, visiting 59 countries including the visits to the USA to attend UN general assembly, to Asian countries, following his neighbourhood first and act east policies.

PM Modi's most important visits in 2018 were: World Economic Forum in Davos, Informal Summit and SCO summit in China, 10th BRICS summit in South Africa, BIMSTEC summit in Nepal, East Asia Summit in Singapore and G-20 summit in Argentina.