Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate projects worth billions of rupees during a two-day visit to southern Karnataka state from Monday.
Mr Modi will also celebrate International Yoga Day during the trip.
His first stop will be in state capital Bengaluru, where he will officially open a multi-speciality hospital and commission several rail and road projects.
He will then visit the Indian Institute of Sciences to open the Centre for Brain Research and lay the foundation stone of Bagchi-Parthasarathy Multispeciality Hospital, a one-of-a-kind institution that conducts research crucial to managing age-related brain disorders.
“These works cover diverse sectors and will boost ease of living for the people of Bengaluru and surrounding areas,” Mr Modi wrote on Twitter.
He will also dedicate India’s first air-conditioned railway station at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru, and give the official nod to an electric train project.
Mr Modi will participate in a mass yoga demonstration on the grounds of Mysore Palace to mark the eighth International Day of Yoga on Tuesday.
The coastal state is the only south Indian state where Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is in power and his visit is crucial as the state is scheduled to head for elections next year.
Karnataka is a vital state for Mr Modi’s party as it sends 28 politicians to India's lower house of parliament.
The state government has faced criticism over heightened sectarian tension between Hindus and Muslims in recent months over a hijab row that was followed by bans on Halal food and Muslim-owned businesses within temple premises.
The government has also been criticised for its attempts to rewrite text books and delete chapters on Muslim rulers such as Tipu Sultan, a move critics say is aimed at galvanising Hindu voters.
Several schools and colleges — within the vicinity of events Mr Modi is expected to preside over — were shut, prompting criticism from the opposition.
As many as 30 workers belonging to Kisan, a farmers' cell within the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, were detained on Monday while they attempted to stage a protest against his visit.
