Amit Shah To Sound Poll Bugle For BJP In Odisha This Week; Why Sonepur?

Bhubaneswar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Odisha and address a public meeting at Sonepur town on April 25, state BJP vide president Golak Mohapatra informed on Sunday. 

He said that Amit Shah will address a huge public gathering in Sonepur in the afternoon as part of the party’s electioneering over “Odisha’s asmita (pride), Maa (woman), Mati (soil) and Matrubhoomi (motherland) and the labour migration problem plaguing the state” ahead of the Lok Sabha and Vidha Sabha elections, beginning May 13.

The BJP stalwart will then proceed to Bhubaneswar and discuss election strategy with senior leaders here. He will fly back to Delhi after spending the night in Bhubaneswar, he added.

This comes two days after Amit Shah had told a conclave that the BJP will engage in a direct fight with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the upcoming elections for “Odia language, culture, and for pride of Odisha”.  He also urged Odisha public to give the responsibility of state’s growth to BJP under the PM Modi leadership. “Wherever PM Modi has emerged victorious, the growth rate has gone up by a huge margin.”

His visit to the state is expected to boost the morale of BJP workers and provide momentum to the party’s campaign against the BJD.

Also Read: Why BJP Didn’t Form Alliance With BJD in Odisha? Hear It From Amit Shah

WHY SONEPUR?

Sonepur falls under Balangir Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to polls along with Bargarh, Sundargarh, Kandhamal and Aska on May 20. Nominations for these seats will begin on April 26.

Balangir LS seat also includes Kantabanji Assembly segment from where the BJD has fielded its party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in an attempt to counter the growing influence of the BJP in the region. He is pitted against sitting Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja and BJP’s Laxman Bag, who lost the last election by only 128 votes.

Amit Shah’s campaigning in Sonepur can also have an influence in the adjoining Sambalpur LS seat from where Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is trying his luck in a direct election after 15 years.

While the BJP has renominated sitting MP Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo from Balangir LS seat, Sonepur district president Pramod Mohapatra is the party nominee against sitting BJD MLA Niranjan Pujari from Sonepur Assembly seat.

Sangeeta, a four-time MP, is pitted against BJD’s Surendra Singh Bhoi, whom the the ruling BJD has fielded from the constituency with the hope to wrest the seat back from the BJP by making a dent in Congress’ vote share.

Also Read: Balangir Elections 2024: Can Royalty Triumph Over Commoner Again?

After two terms, Kalikesh Singh Deo lost the 2019 election to Sangeeta, who represented the constituency for 3 consecutive terms in 1998, 1999, 2004, from Balangir. However, the victory margin was mere 20,000 despite 8.2% increase in the vote share of BJP.

Bhoi had unsuccessfully contested the last two elections on Congress ticket from Titlagarh Assembly seat and lost to BJD’s Tukuni Sahu.