Odisha Polls: Chhattisgarh CM & Ex-Tripura CM Add Muscle To BJP Campaign

Bhubaneswar: With BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik taking the lead in kicking off the party’s election campaign on Wednesday, the BJP’s prominent leaders from outside Odisha will join the campaign from Sunday.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bishnu Deo Sai, one of the BJP’s star campaigners, will participate in the campaign of the party candidate Pradip Purohit for Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. Sai will join the road show of Purohit in Jharsuguda Assembly segment.

He will arrive at Jharsuguda airport to participate in the campaign at around 5 pm. The road show will start from Manmohan ME School and move around Jharsuguda town to culminate at Gandhi Murty Chowk in the evening.

Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency consists of Padampur, Bijepur, Bargarh, Attabira, Bhatli, Brarajnagar and Jharsuguda Assembly segments. The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Bargarh will be held in second phase in the state on May 20.

Meanwhile, former chief minister of Tripura and present Rajya Sabha member Biplab Kumar Deb arrived in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. From the airport, he straight went to the state headquarters office of the party and held a meeting with the leaders.

Deb’s visit assumes significance in the light of the statement of Home Minister Amit Shah at party workers’ meeting during his visit to the state a few days back. Shah had said while BJP came to power in Tripura with a vote margin of 2 to 3 per cent, the party has not been able to muster majority in Odisha despite having a large vote share. Deb is expected to hammer out a fresh strategy with Odisha leaders in the meeting.