Amit Shah chats with Khurda villagers over snacks

Bhubaneswar: On the last day of his Odisha visit, BJP President Amit Shah reached Basantpur village under Ekamra Assembly constituency in Khurda on Thursday and interacted with villagers as a regular ‘booth worker’, talking to them about the welfare programmes of the government and seeking their support in the forthcoming election.
The three-day visit was part of BJP’s strategy to strengthen the party in the state under ‘Mo Booth Sabuthu Majboot’ (My Booth is the Strongest) programme. The BJP is focusing on expanding its base in Odisha ahead of the 2019 elections, after an impressive performance in the recent panchayat polls. Shah was accompanied by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP Odisha unit president Basanta Panda and party general secretary Arun Singh, who is also the BJP’s state in-charge.
While attending a programme at the village, Shah urged the workers to work hard as per strategy so that the party comes to power in the state in 2019.
The BJP chief slammed the BJD government for not being able to usher in development despite being rich in natural resources. He blamed the ruling BJD for widespread poverty and lack of development in the state. He also took a dig at Chief Minister Navven Patnaik for travelling to several parts within Odisha in helicopter.
Shah said he travelled 400 km in the last three days by road and realised that people had immense faith in BJP.
The party president went to booth 191 at Basantpur village and had snacks and tea at Harihar Sahu’s house.
In the past two days, Shah also visited Binjharpur and had held talks with people in five villages followed by lunch at a dalit family’s house. Besides attending party workers’ meetings in Ganjam, Jajpur and Khurda districts, he interacted with leaders and discussed strategies to strengthen the organisation in the state. He also met BJP zilla parishad members, block presidents and vice-presidents.
Odisha is the 14th state the party president is visiting as part of the BJP’s vistarak programme.