Bhubaneswar: The BJP’s election campaign in Odisha is strewn with star power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah and nine film personalities, including Hema Malini, are among the 40 campaigners who will visit the state for polls in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29.
Several Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, Jual Oram, Dharmendra Pradhan, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP’s national spokesman Sambit Patra will also campaign for party candidates contesting the 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly elections in Odisha.
The list includes former BJP chief ministers Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Arjun Munda and former Odisha chief minister Giridhar Gomango.
Besides state BJP leaders like Basanta Panda, KV Singhdeo, Baijayant Panda, Biswabhusan Harichandan and Damadar Rout, Odia film stars such as Mihir Das, Sritam Das, Maheswata Ray, Aparajita Mohanty, Anu Choudhury, Pinki Pradhan, Ashrumochan Mohanty and Harihar Mohapatra also figure in the star campaigners’ list.
Mihir Das, who earlier campaigned for the BJD in the panchayat polls, embraced the BJP in January 2018. A household name in Odisha, Aparajita had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress last year. She had unsuccessfully contested from Cuttack Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket in 2014.
