Bhubaneswar: Odisha is all set to witness high-pitch campaign for the upcoming elections with BJP national president J P Nadda and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slated to visit the state on Sunday.
With campaigning for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections gathering momentum, Nadda will make a whirlwind tour to address a public meeting in Berhampur. He is also slated to attend a meeting of party leaders after addressing the rally.
Sources said Nadda will land in Bhubaneswar Airport around 4.45 pm and proceed to Rangeilunda airstrip near Berhampur by a special aircraft for the election meeting.
Nadda’s visit comes after party heavyweight and Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed an election rally on April 25 in Sonepur from where he sounded the poll bugle for BJP. He also held crucial meeting with state leaders of 13 parliamentary constituencies here.
Berhampur and Nabarangpur are among the four Lok Sabha seats which will go to polls in the first phase elections in the state on May 13. The other two seats are Kalahandi and Koraput. The state will also vote for 28 Assembly seats under these constituencies.
The Berhampur LS seat is set to witness an interesting battle between two defectors. While the BJP has fielded Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, an expelled BJD leader who joined the saffron camp in February, BJD’s candidate Bhrugu Baxipatra, who was the vice president of state BJP, got the ticket within a few hours of switching sides.
As per Congress sources, party leader Rahul Gandhi is slated to address a ‘Nyaya Samavesh’ at a village in Sapipur Assembly segment which falls under Kendrapada Lok Sabha constituency. Congress has fielded Siddharth Swarup Das from Kendrapada Parliamentary constituency.
During his visit, Rahul is likely to pay tributes to Madhusudan Das, regarded as a main architect of modern Odisha, at his birthplace Satyabhamapur in Salipur area.
Rahul is slated to land in Bhubaneswar Airport around 11.30 am and fly to Salipur by a chopper. After garlanding the statue of Madhusudan Das and paying homage to the legendary personality, the Congress leader will attend the election meeting.
