New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The first meeting of BJP’s manifesto committee for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to deliberate on ‘Sankalp Patra’ got underway in New Delhi on Monday.
Three senior leaders from Odisha – Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishanaw and Jual Oram – are part of the 27-member panel led by senior BJP leader and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The saffron party has already announced candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, which includes Dharmendra from Sambalpur and Jual from Sundargarh, and it is planning to intensify its campaign with 100 rallies, featuring Prime Minister Nardendra Modi, Amit Shah among others.
Addressing a presser, Odisha BJP vice-president Golak Mohapatra said that mega rallies will be organised in all 21 Lok Sabha constituencies. “Besides Modi and Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, other senior leaders and union minister will address public meetings in parliamentary constituencies while chief ministers including Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath and Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sharma, will travel to different assembly segments,” he said after a strategic meeting, focusing on election preparations, in Bhubaneswar.
The Prime Minister, who had addressed two rallies in Sambalpur and Chandikhole on February 3 and March 5 respectively, will also hold roadshows in Odisha.
Mohapatra added that these rallies are not just mere gatherings but a significant part of the party’s comprehensive strategy to topple the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha.
The BJP has also decided to bring out a chargesheet against the government, highlighting the alleged hijacking of governance, Odia Asmita, administration by non-Odia babus, tainted BJD ministers and involvement of BJD leaders in cases related to crime against women.
If sources are to be believed the saffron party will make ‘Odia Asmita’ a major poll plank.
The simultaneous Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections will be held in four phases in Odisha from May 13.