BHUBANESWAR: Having declared that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form its government in Odisha on June 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be putting extra efforts in the state to see that the audacious mission he has set is accomplished without any hiccups and he earns no embarrassment as he witnessed in 2014 and 2019.
In 2014 and 2019, though the BJP had set a target to capture power by unseating the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) from power, it suffered miserably, largely because of a poor organisational base at the grassroots.
The PM, who has already addressed six poll meetings and one roadshow in his two trips to Odisha earlier this month, will arrive in the state on Sunday evening and review the party’s campaign strategy.
On Monday morning, the PM will offer prayers to Lord Jagannath and Puri and later hold a massive roadshow there. Thereafter, he addressed two public meetings – one at Cuttack and the other at Angul under Dhenkanal parliamentary constituency.
The BJP has fielded Bhartruhari Mahtab, a former BJD MP, as its Lok Sabha candidate. Rudra Narayan Pani, a firebrand BJP leader, is contesting from Dhenkanal seat.
The BJP has fielded party’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra from Puri parliamentary constituency.
On May 6, the PM addressed two public meetings at Berhampur and Nabarangpur. Four days later on June 10, he held an impressive roadshow in state capital Bhubaneswar. The next day, on May 11, he undertook a marathon campaign programme by addressing three poll rallies at Phulbani, Bolangir and Bargarh.
The BJP has also landed chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Assam and Rajasthan as well as many top central ministers in Odisha’s campaign trail to canvas for the party candidates. Besides, hundreds of BJP workers from across different parts of the country are also seen actively getting themselves involved in the campaign process.
In his earlier public meetings, the PM has launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Naveen Patnaik government on many issues, including alleged failure of governance, corruption, nepotism and lawlessness.
Besides, the PM has put the Naveen Patnaik government in the dock over the mysterious missing of keys of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar. He has dared CM Naveen Patnaik to explain under which circumstances the keys went missing and if all the gems and ornaments in Ratna Bhandar are safe.
Among all the issues the Prime Minister and other ministers are raising during the campaign, Odia Asmita (Odia pride) has been the core one as PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and the visiting chief ministers of Assam, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan were seen emphatically focusing on it.
The BJP leaders have promised the people of Odisha to make a “young” and “healthy” Odia man chief minister of Odisha.