Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive at Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur, (IIM-S) at 1.45 pm on Saturday.
The western Odisha town is under a thick security blanket with heavy deployment of police around IIMs-S and Remed field, the two venues which will be graced by PM Modi. Around 70 platoons are engaged with 250 police personnel deployed at the two venues.
The programme at the B-school will continue till 3 pm during which the PM will inaugurate the permanent campus of the IIM at Basantpur village near Goshala. He will also lay the foundation, inaugurate, and dedicate 23 projects in western Odisha related to education, road transport, coal, railways, and mines, collectively worth of 51,235 crore, informed IIM-S director Mahadeo Jaiswal.
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Governor Raghubar Das and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be attending the event.
Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Education, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Railways, Communication and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu will also grace the inauguration ceremony. MP Nitesh Ganga Deb and MLAs Jayanarayan Mishra and Nauri Nayak will be present.
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The event is expected to draw as many as 4000 audience from various parts of the nation.
The PM will then address a public meeting at Remed field, Sambalpur, from 3.15 pm to 4 pm. It will be the first political visit by a top BJP leader in the state ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and likely to boost the party’s poll prospects in west Odisha, where it had swept all five Lok Sabha seats in 2019. “Modiji’s public rally will influence the political scenario in favour of BJP in Odisha. We will form the government in the state in 2024,” said state unit president of the saffron party, Manmohan Samal.
His visit to the town also has political significance as it is speculated that the BJP is likely to field Dharmendra from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency.
It is likely to be attended by around 150,000 people.
Following the rally, the PM will leave for Guwahati from Jharsuguda airport at 4.40 pm.
