Bhubaneswar: The stage is set for a show of strength between the ruling BJD and the BJP in Odisha on Wednesday.
While the BJP national president Amit Shah, on his two-day visit to Odisha will arrive at Bhawanipatna on Wednesday to strengthen the party’s grassroots ahead of the ensuing general and Assembly elections next year, BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik will arrive in Berhampur on his one-day visit to Ganjam district on the same day to attend a grand function at the Khallikote College Cluster Stadium where three Congress stalwarts—former Union minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, Ganjam District Congress Committee president Bhagaban Gantayat and AICC member Bikram Panda—including several local congress leaders and more than 20,000 supporters would join the BJD.
Sources in the party said Shah after arriving at Bhawanipatna at 1 pm from Raipur, would address a massive party meeting at Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium where he will brief the party workers and leaders about the strategy to achieve ‘Mission 120 Plus’ in the ensuing Assembly elections in the state.
On the next day, Shah will visit Balangir and address party’s youth wing members.
It may be mentioned that Shah during his three-day visit to Odisha on September 6 last year, had attended ‘Mo Booth Sabuthu Majbhut’ programme. Besides, he had also briefed the party workers and leaders about the ‘Mission 120 Plus’ strategy.
After suffering a massive defeat in the hands of the BJD in the Bijepur byelection in February this year, the saffron party has again braced up to show its strength in the western Odisha.
