bhubaneswar: The meeting between Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Prime Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday lasted for about 35 minutes.
Addressing the media after arriving in Bhubaneswar, the Chief Minister on Sunday said that his Delhi visit was essentially for paying tribute to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s father, who passed away at AIIMS-Jodhpur on July 8. “I also got an opportunity to meet the PM, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh,” he said.
Majhi said that he had a detailed 35-minute discussion with the PM on various development projects for Odisha. “The discussion was fruitful, focusing on accelerating Odisha’s development in the coming days. The emphasis was on a roadmap to achieve the goals of a prosperous Odisha by 2036 and a developed India by 2047,” he said.
During the visit, he also met President Droupadi Murmu and presented her with the ‘Odisha Vision-2036’ document.
Besides developmental issues, the meeting in Delhi is expected to influence the BJP government in Odisha and the party’s internal workings in the backdrop of pending cabinet expansion and political appointments to different corporations and boards of the state government. The long-awaited ministry expansion or reshuffle and Manmohan Samal’s recent election as BJP state president, which has paved the way for the exercise, are likely to have featured prominently in their discussions, according to political observers.
After assuming office on June 12 last year, Majhi had inducted 14 leaders into his ministry, with expectations that the remaining vacancies would be filled within a month. Despite completing a year in office, six ministerial positions remain vacant.