On a day when the Election Commission (EC) notified the dates for the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the tone for an expected third term in office, saying he works for deadlines, and not headlines. In a keynote address at the India Today Conclave in the national capital on Saturday, PM Modi said, "Whenever I come to a conclave like this, those in the audience expect me to say things that will make loads of headlines. However, I am someone who works towards deadlines, not headlines. So I might be making some points that the media may not find too attractive."

He said he wanted to expand on certain welfarist initiatives of the Centre that rarely appear on newsprint or are extensively covered by the broadcast media. "There are initiatives that the media rarely covers but these are issues that connect with ordinary people," PM Modi said. He said there are an estimated 1.25 lakh registered startups in India and the most remarkable feature about them is that they are spread evenly across 600 districts of the country.